Buy software, connect your tools or build a system?

Describe one job before choosing a product

Follow one order, stock movement or customer request from beginning to end. Note who enters the information, who needs to see it, where it gets copied and what happens when something goes wrong. This gives every option the same job to prove it can handle.

Keep the spreadsheet when the process is still manageable

A spreadsheet can remain a sensible option for a small, stable workflow with a clear owner and few handoffs. Improving how records are entered, checked and backed up may solve the immediate problem.

Reconsider when people maintain conflicting copies, customer access needs separating, or approvals and changes need a reliable history. Do not make a spreadsheet carry permissions and audit requirements it cannot reliably support.

Buy an existing product when its workflow fits

Try a maintained product against your actual tasks. If it supports your stock, orders, permissions and reports without extensive workarounds, setup and training may be the better use of your budget.

Check the full licence cost, user and site limits, supported connections, migration, support and data export. Test the important exceptions as well as a successful demo. A product being popular does not prove it fits your operation.

Connect the tools that already work

If each tool does its own job but staff keep copying information between them, a supported integration may close the gap. Write down which system owns each record and what should move in each direction.

Confirm interfaces and access permissions before promising a connection. Agree how duplicates, failed requests, corrections and reconciliation are handled. An integration will not fix two teams using incompatible definitions of the same record.

Build the workflow that existing tools do not cover

Custom software is worth considering when the missing part is how people, customers, stock or approvals need to work together. Define a narrow first release with real users, useful records and clear acceptance checks.

Include data migration, hosting, maintenance, permissions and handover in the scope. Compare the long-term responsibility with buying a product. Keep working tools where they fit; a custom system need not replace everything.

One warehouse can use more than one approach

For MegaFood, our team delivered warehouse workflows and customer stock access around its operation, while storage invoices connect to Xero and payment status syncs back. The published case shows a custom workflow connected to an existing accounting tool.

As a decision example, a different warehouse might find a maintained product covers its needs. Test receiving exceptions, stock ownership, customer visibility and storage billing before choosing. The MegaFood delivery does not establish that every ERP or accounting system can be connected in the same way.

Questions to settle before committing

• Who can see and change each record, and who resolves an exception or disagreement?
• Which current data must be kept, who checks migration, and what must stay available during the change?
• Who maintains the result, monitors failures and restores the service when something goes wrong?
• What are the one-off and ongoing costs, and how can you export your data or hand the work to another team?