Short answer: if the company's processes are standard and a market ERP covers them without workarounds, go with the ERP. If the operation has its own logic, or the ERP is already surrounded by spreadsheets to make it work, a custom system pays off. For many industrial companies the best answer is to combine both: keep the accounting or ERP that already works, and build the operational side custom, integrated with it.
When an off-the-shelf ERP makes sense
- Processes are those of any company in the sector: buy, sell, invoice, collect.
- The company is willing to adapt its way of working to the software.
- Accounting and administration matter more than plant operations.
- There are no special integrations with machines, scales or other systems.
In those cases a market product is quick to implement and shares its development cost across thousands of customers. Building custom software for something that is already well solved makes no sense.
When a custom system makes sense
- The operation is the competitive advantage. How the company plans, produces or ships is what sets it apart, and a generic system would force it to work like everyone else.
- There is sector-specific logic. Cutting orders in a joinery, traceable batches in a food plant, weighed intakes in a recycler. A generic ERP doesn't speak that language.
- The plant floor has to use it. An operator wearing gloves with thirty seconds per entry needs a screen designed for that, not an admin form.
- Many things need integrating. E-invoicing, accounting, scales, scanners and existing systems.
Signs your ERP no longer fits
- Next to the ERP live the spreadsheets that are actually used to make decisions.
- Reports are exported to Excel to be put together.
- Every customisation is expensive, slow or depends on a single consultant.
- Per-user licences keep growing and the plant still doesn't use the system.
- To know real stock, someone has to ask the warehouse.
If two or three of these show up, the company is already paying for a custom system, just one made of spreadsheets and people's hours.
The middle path: market core, custom operations
You don't have to replace everything. A setup that works well in industry is to keep accounting and invoicing in the system the company already uses, and build custom what is specific to the operation: orders, production, stock, traceability and dispatch. Both sides are integrated so data is entered only once.
That way you start with the most expensive bottleneck, reuse what already works, and keep the risk of each stage contained. It is how we work at Vortwood: we don't replace everything at once, we grow on top of what already works.
Five questions to decide
- What share of processes does the ERP cover without spreadsheets around it?
- Is the way we operate what sets us apart from competitors?
- Who will enter the data, and under what conditions?
- Which systems, machines or devices does it need to talk to?
- What do licences and customisations cost per year, compared with a system of our own?
In short
- Standard processes and an admin focus: market ERP.
- Specific operations, plant-floor use and integrations: custom system.
- Most common in industry: keep accounting, build operations custom, integrated.
If you are weighing both options, our discovery phase maps your operation and tells you what is worth building. See our services or write to contact@vortwood.com.
