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AI and automation

Custom internal applications

Focused software for an operational process that matters to your business and does not fit the assumptions built into off-the-shelf products.

Good-fit situations

  • The official system is in place, but the real work still happens in spreadsheets.
  • Available products cover most requirements but miss the differentiating workflow.
  • License costs scale poorly for occasional users.
  • A manual process is too important or error-prone to remain informal.
  • Several systems need one simple interface for staff.

What you receive

  • Requirements centered on one defined workflow
  • A small, usable first release
  • Integration with the systems and accounts the business controls
  • Role and permission design
  • Testing, documentation, and handoff
  • Written ownership, hosting, and maintenance responsibilities

Process

How the work proceeds

  1. Test the buy option first

    Off-the-shelf software is usually the lower-risk choice. I check whether an existing product can meet the requirement at a reasonable total cost before proposing a build.

  2. Build the smallest useful release

    One workflow, in production, being used — rather than a platform that will eventually cover everything.

  3. Plan for maintenance

    Standard technology, documented, on your accounts, with ownership written down.

Selected example

Custom quoting and invoicing

Situation.
A company's pricing logic, approval path, and document requirements did not fit the assumptions built into off-the-shelf quoting products.
Work.
Built an internal application around the company's own rules rather than reshaping the business to fit a generic quoting model.

Buy before build

Custom development proceeds only when it earns the added ownership and maintenance responsibility. Building is the expensive answer, and it should have to earn it.

Related

The rest of the practice

Explore the full AI and automation practice

Start with the specifics.

Describe the task, the systems involved, and who is responsible for it today. That is enough for a first conversation.

Discuss an internal application