There’s a lot to consider when trying to decide to build vs. buy poultry software for your production business. The thought process is similar to trying to decide between whether to build a home from the ground up or buy one that’s already for sale on the market. Cost and time are the biggest factors to think about in this decision but there are several others which we will outline in this post.
Before you make your decision to build your own poultry software be sure to discuss these questions with your team:
- Will you need to acquire new technology or personnel to design, implement, and keep up your solution?
- How long can you wait for your solution to be deployed?
- Do you have the staff that possesses the right skill set to not only build the solution but also to maintain and support the system? Or will you need to hire a team?
- What detailed costs are associated with not only building the software but supporting it long-term
- If things don’t go according to plan, can your budget afford to lengthen the project, and or cut their losses if it does not work out?
Answering these questions is just a start to understanding which option is best for your company long-term. The next step is to weight out the benefits and risks for each choice.
When should your company build its own system?
The first thing you want to do before you make any decision on software is to make a list of all your requirements. Then you can take that list and decide the best action plan. The number one question to ask before building software in-house is, is there software out there already that meets my business requirements? If there is, there is no need to re-invent the wheel. If there is not software out there that will accomplish your goals, then you should build your own.
Sometimes there may be a case where you find software that has almost all your requirements but not all. In this case, we’d recommend going with a poultry software company that you can customize the software to meet your companies’ processes and goals.
Building your own software takes a lot of time and requires massive overhead, so before you embark on this journey, be sure you know this is what you want to do long-term. While building software may sound like a good idea, it’s important to remember everything that it entails, from project planning to testing and documentation, all the way through to maintenance and support.
According to Atomic Object, you can make a rough estimate of costs involved in custom-built software by multiplying the price of an off-the-shelf solution by ten.
Potential expenses of creating your own poultry software:
Hire the right staff: You’ll need to keep expanding your team to maintain the system. This includes more than just technical staff but possibly depending on the size of the project, you may need to hire a Product Manager, a Project Manager, and the list goes on.
Purchase the right tools: Software licensing and accreditations will need to be kept up and paid for.
Keep up with new technologies: More training will have to be invested in to keep staff and new hires current. Software developers need to be trained in the latest programming languages and technologies.
Pay for hosting: If using SaaS, you’ll need to pay for hosting regularly.
User support: Who is going to answer questions for users or address technical issues when they arise? Your team.
User feedback & iterations: Frequent new features and versions will need to be released based on user feedback.
Timeline roadblocks: Chances are the software you are building is not your team’s only priority, because of this, the implementation timeline will be impacted.
Our advice to most poultry companies who want to build their own system is to not go down this path. Not having the right staff or allotted time to work on the implementation could leave your company vulnerable to several risks, including security or others. Going with a ready-made solution allows IT teams to have more time focus on their top priority tasks. This makes it easier for companies to scale up as needed. Plus, designing your own in-house system will dilute management time and attention away from your core, poultry production, responsibilities.
When should you partner with a poultry software vendor?
Investing in an off-the-shelf platform has many perks. It will save your company time and money long-term. And if you go with a company like MTech Systems, you can guarantee you’re getting a tested tried and true mature software solution that’s backed by over 30 years of software and industry-tailored experience.
What are some other perks of buying ready-made poultry software?
Faster time to market: Because our core competency is software and because our team is focused on your timeline, your implementation will likely be faster.
Maintenance is covered: Anything that is needed to maintain the system is handled by us.
Updates and versioning are taken care of: Whenever updates or new versions that need to be released, our team takes care of it. We are continually updating, expanding, providing new features and capabilities on an ongoing basis.
Covering all time zones for you and your users: If your team or your users run into any bugs or technical issues we are to help.
Extension of your team: We hire the right team for the job and we’re an extension of your team whenever needed for the long-haul.
Easily scalable: We provide solutions that fit any sized business throughout the whole supply chain. Our software is tailored to grow right alongside your business. We also provide for a vast amount of customization within our application and also allow for custom plug-ins.
Around the clock monitoring: Your system is constantly being monitored and we make sure all the latest security framework is operating and up to date.
Built-in industry best practices: Our software is built for the industry by the industry so you can guarantee that the features are tailored to help poultry producers grow.
Full supply chain system from IoT to AI-backed planning: The digitalization process is easy because we have a system that works. It is not just a data management system, but it is designed to connect the latest technologies and methodologies to every part of the supply chain; allowing producers to have the best toolkit possible for growth.
Plus, MTech Systems will be here guiding and supporting you every step of the way through your business’s innovation revolution.
