tonysmiththathousingitguy @HousingITguy

Some thoughts on IT and UK SocialHousing from a unique perspective of over 27+ years working with over 140 RSL's, Councils and social landlord groups in the UK, Ireland & Australia. (c) No reproduction without prior/express permission Available for independent housing RSL implementation, procurement of HMS, Repairs, CRM, EDM, DLO, Financial, Scheduling systems, critical friend etc. In Scotland I work with the folks at Arneil Johnston Check us out on Soundcloud /housingitguy

Showing posts with label products. Show all posts

Monday, 4 May 2026

Pioneer To The Falls

If you do the X / Bluesky thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

Only the other week I was reminded there is a useful little trick when watching a housing software demonstration, particularly from those bigger suppliers out there hoovering up applications like there is no tomorrow.

While everyone else is admiring the shiny dashboards, brightly coloured tiles and suspiciously flawless customer journey, have a quick glance at the browser’s URL bar. It can tell you rather more than the suppliers death by PowerPoint does.

What is being presented as one seamless, fully integrated supplier platform may actually be several separately acquired products, still running on different domains, different technology stacks and, occasionally, entirely different login arrangements. The supplier may have applied the same colour palette, added its logo in the top corner and carefully rehearsed the demonstration so nobody notices the joins, that's the smoke & mirrors.

It is the software equivalent of badge engineering. New grille, fresh paintwork and a familiar badge on the bonnet, but quite a lot underneath has come from somewhere else entirely. Like the 1980s Triumph Acclaim, that was really just a (very reliable) Honda Ballade underneath. Probably one of the best cars British Leyland never built actually!

There is nothing inherently wrong with acquired products. Buying a decent application can add useful functionality to a wider product suite much faster than attempting to build the whole thing from scratch. The problem starts when the demonstration implies a level of integration, maturity and live customer use that has not yet been achieved. Its not just housing systems either, HR/Payroll, Asset Management & others all can suffer from this phenomenon.

The demonstrator moves confidently from CRM into housing management, repairs, scheduling, mobile working/field service, payments and reporting. Screens open, data appears and nobody has to type the same tenant reference into four different systems. It all looks sexy & marvellous, and the natural assumption is that several other landlords must already be running this exact combination successfully.

Sometimes they clearly are not.

One customer may use the CRM. Another may use the repairs module. Somebody else may have implemented the mobile application. There may even be a landlord trialing the scheduler. But the complete collection of products being demonstrated may never have operated together in a live housing environment.

That is a rather different proposition. A landlord can believe it is buying a proven integrated platform, only to discover halfway through implementation that it is actually the first organisation attempting to deploy that exact mixture of products, interfaces, data flows and business processes. At that point, the word “customer” quietly becomes “pioneer”. We have all seen them in the Hollywood cowboy films, generally the ones with the arrows in their backs!

Suppliers generally prefer more uplifting terminology. Strategic partner. Early adopter. Design partner. Lighthouse customer. All lovely phrases. They can also mean you are helping them finish the product (or maybe start it!).

Being first is not automatically a disaster. It can bring greater influence over the roadmap, more attention from senior supplier staff and an opportunity to shape how the solution develops. It can also bring considerably more testing, integration risk, consultancy days, workarounds and meetings involving sentences such as, “That might be available in the next sprint/release.”

You may also discover that things you reasonably regarded as defects are being logged as enhancement requests. Apparently, expecting two products sold as an integrated suite to exchange information correctly can sometimes be quite an ambitious customer requirement.

The key question during any demonstration is therefore not simply, “Can the system do this?” Most suppliers can make something appear to work for 12 minutes in a controlled demonstration using carefully prepared data.

The better question is, “Which live customer is using this exact combination, in this exact way, today?”

Not a customer using one of the modules. Not a customer planning to implement it next year. Not a customer who has signed a contract but has yet to go live. Not somebody who attended a webinar and said it looked promising.

A real, live customer using the same products, the same integrations and broadly the same processes, at a comparable scale. Then ask to speak to them.

If nobody can be named, the demonstration has not necessarily shown you a proven integrated solution. It may simply have shown you a rather attractive experiment.

….and you may be about to pioneer it all the way to the falls.

Are you lumbered with legacy solutions & unsure whats out there ?

Give me a call, I will drop in for a brew & bring the chocolate gingers ☕

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Interpol - Pioneer To The Falls

(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here , what projects do we get involved in? Access them here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.

File Under: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveF,ActiveFinance,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Affinity,Aidenn,Agile,Agile365,AHB,AirWatch,Alscient,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,BrikHousing,Browser Applications,BC, Business Central, Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of 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. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK

Friday, 3 April 2026

Sorted

If you do the X / Bluesky thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

There is a special kind of optimism found only in software supplier helpdesks. Not that anyone often has a good word for internal or external ones these days. It is the optimism that says a problem affecting real users, doing real jobs, on a wet Tuesday afternoon, can be marked as “resolved” because a future software release might, possibly, allegedly, include something that sounds a bit like a fix. Not fixed now, OBVs. Not fixed in the version the customer is actually using. Not fixed in any way that stops Doris in rents, Ahmed in repairs, or Lisa in the contact centre from having to invent a daily workaround involving three browser tabs, a spreadsheet, and a quiet swear. But fixed in spirit. Fixed on the roadmap. Fixed in that wonderful fantasy kingdom where version 12.4.7 is coming soon, all known issues have vanished, and everyone lives happily ever after in a clean release note.

I do have some sympathy, because many years ago when on the supplier darkside I did a week each month on a software helpdesk myself, so I know the pressure to keep queues moving, manage expectations, stop calls festering, and keep the statistics looking vaguely respectable. But there is a world of difference between managing a ticket properly and making it disappear because the words “future release” have appeared in the supplier crystal ball. The customer logs a fault. The supplier investigates. Someone says, “Yes, that is a known issue.” Then, as if by magic, the ticket is closed because “this is addressed in a future roadmap release.” Lovely. Except the user is not living in a future release. They are living in today’s release, with today’s broken process, today’s complaint from a tenant, today’s arrears letter that did not generate properly, today’s repair order that won’t behave, or today’s report that produces the sort of numbers usually seen on a fruit machine.

Closing a ticket because a fix is promised later is a bit like a garage handing your car back with the brakes still dodgy and saying, “Don’t worry, the next model has improved braking.” That may be technically interesting, but it is not terribly helpful when you are already halfway down the hill. The future fix might arrive in three months. Or six. Or it might slip into the next release, miss ‘the sprint’ altogether. Or it might fix the problem for one customer configuration but not another. Or it might fix the obvious symptom while leaving the underlying daftness ( & data wibble ) untouched, like painting over damp/mould and calling it a housing regeneration strategy. And, of course, once the ticket is closed, the supplier’s statistics look better. Fewer open issues. Better resolution times. Tidier dashboard. A warm little glow in the service review pack. Meanwhile, back in the actual organisation, the workaround is still alive and well, staff are still wasting time, managers are still chasing, confidence in the system and supplier is still being slowly sanded down, and the customer has not received anything like a fix. They have received a promissory note with a version number on it.

There is a simple principle here. If the customer still experiences the problem, the issue is not closed. It may be linked to a future release. It may be awaiting development. It may have a target fix version. It may even have a workaround. But it is not resolved. Maybe suppliers need more honest ticket statuses, such as “awaiting customer confirmation of resolution” and “awaiting upgrade/bugfix application & customer confirmation of resolution”, so everyone can see the truth of where things actually stand. That would protect suppliers from endless duplicate tickets, but also protect customers from the nonsense of problems being quietly buried before anyone on the customer side has confirmed they have gone away.

A future release is not a fix. It is, at best, a hopeful promise. And as anyone who has worked in software for more than ten minutes knows, promises in release notes are sometimes like supplier demo dashboards: very shiny, very confident, and occasionally from the same broad family as fiction.

Suffering a legacy supplier and a less than optimal helpdesk?

Give me a call, I will drop in with the Hobnobs and we can share some war stories ☕

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Pulp – Sorted for E’s and Whiz

(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here , what projects do we get involved in? Access them here

. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK

Tuesday, 12 August 2025

Swell Maps

If you do the X / Bluesky thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

I don’t know if you have noticed this last six months, the shear volume of software solution buy up and acquisition activity in the public and socialhousing sector? Its reducing actual choice and I have heard it said it actually stifles innovation.

Its sure as hell easier for some outfits to buy up solutions, also bagging customers needing yet more numbers in their sales ledgers, than getting out being hungry and winning new business. What with MRI concluding its purchase of Capita’s public sector offerings after challenge, Aareon doing it with Designer Software’s Homemaster and MIS-AMS ActiveH, its as one colleague confided to me, “well its just down to a few players now for modern procurement”.

The trouble of course with buying up just anything, is suppliers can end up like having an overfilled golf bag. When that difficult opportunity comes it, its 3 times as hard to work out what club would be best to hit that ball with. In the last few months I have heard multiple pitches telling different stories about the same products in the inventory, with often the sales team confused. We are in a sector where good staff are leaving because they are approaching retirement, family life is changing for them, or just don’t want to be TUPE’d over (again) to a corporate monolith. A good merger also is a time to cut down that dead wood that you haven’t tackled in many years and fortunately your new owners will do the unpleasant pruning.

Unfortunately if acquisitions are not done well and managed well, your product offering becomes more like a soup, a thick and not too present one too. No wonder some of the new kids on the block are doing so well, such as the dinosaur slayer (you know who I mean), who is proud to just sell 3 things really well and tell you what the cost per property is. Simples !

Also, for balance, other alternatives on CRM based solutions are available with D365 & Salesforce. Other dinosaur slayers of a kind !

So, to be blogging about yet another acquisition, is unfortunate, although to be honest, a little less so.

This month another of those big public sector software suppliers picked up a GIS solution. NEC (nee NPS Northgate Public Services) ‘strategically’ acquired CadCorp. Full chapter and verse can be read here.

I am familiar with Cadcorp, as back in 2011 at my old shop (MIS-AMS) we were resellers of its UK based product and even back then it had clever and flexible integrations and rich features. It’s a good product and I still hear good things about it.

In contrast to a few others this feels less like a desperate hoovering up of solutions and more like adding an essential part of a jigsaw into their offerings around Blue Light, safety, energy, infrastructure and others in addition to social housing, via API’s.

It would be hoped that the comments on the marriage ring true and this brings something bigger than the sum of its two parts, rather than what is often experienced elsewhere, merged help-desks and a tin-ear in reference to general customer service.

Aside from taking over Anite OHMS back in Nov 2008 (after the OFT decided not to refer it to the Competition Commission), NEC now have pretty much one of everything to pitch. Less of the multiples, “which contractor, which mobile, or which housing solution this time”, type nonsense.

Paradoxically, having more traditional product to choose from with the same logo on the front, can often cause more problems than it solves. If mixing products, always check if they have been integrated in that manner before, successfully tried or not. I hear far too many occurrences of this, with often bigger landlords often being caught out worse. I am sure some contacts of mine may be reading this and thinking “yes”, its easier to be caught out than you think! So, readers, let the buyer beware.

Two many products? - how to scope your options ?

Get in touch , I will drop in for a brew & bring the Stem Ginger Cookies ☕

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Swell Maps – Read About Seymour

(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.

File Under: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing,acquisitions, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveF,ActiveFinance,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Affinity,Agile,Agile365,AHB,AirWatch,Alscient,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,BrikHousing,Browser Applications,BC, Business Central, Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica Cx,Civica Genero,Civica Saffron,Clearview,Clik,Cx Assets, Cloud Dialogs,CloudDialogs,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Commontime,Community Reward Services,Company,Competitive Dialogue process,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Consultants,Contact Manager,Context,Contractor Systems,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,Crystal Reports,Customer Relationship Management,Cx,CxFeedback, DRS,Deeplake,Designer Software,Development Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365,D365,Dynamics365,Dynaway ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Esuasive,Esynergy,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e, F&O, Facebook,Factorwise,Field Service management,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials,FLS,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion,Fuzzlab Gas Tag,G-Cloud,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex, HCL,HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,HRA,Hardware,Hitachi Systems,Hitex,HomeMaster,Hometeam,HouSys,House,Housemark,Housemark survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing jigsaw,HousingOne,Housing-One, Housing Support Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, IMS,IPC,iProperty Cloud,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,In4Systems Promaster,InfinityGroup,InfoBoss,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation, Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab,InclineIT, Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keynamics, Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz, M3,MadeTech,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Microsoft365,microsoft 365,MWL,Management,Management Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,More IQ,MoreIQ,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MoreIQ, MRI,MRI Housing One, NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plentific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propeller,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QLX, QLF, QL Yuneo,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rocket,Rubixx, Salesforce,Salesforce.Org,SAP,SASSHA,SDM,SHBVN,SM,SOTI,SP,SQL,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting,SQL Server,Saffron,Safron,Saturn,Scenario,Scotland,Scots,Scottish,Scout,Sequoa,Serengeti,Serros,Server,Service,Services,Servitor,Sharepoint,Sim,SimPro, Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Housing ICT,Social Housing Software Applications,Social Media,Software,Software solutions,Spotlight Service,Spotlightservice,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic,SunAccounts,Sunguard,Surveys,Streetwise, Swordfish,Sx3,Symatrix Human,System alignment,Systems,Systemwise, T-Files,TEAMS,TED,TFiles,TP Tracker,TSG,Tagish Casework,Tagra,Task,TAIM,Techlabs,Technologies (India) PVT Limited,Telecetera,Template,Terminal Services,That,Three Star,Tilt,TiltAffinity,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing, ,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter, U2,UC,UK,UK Housing,Ukhousing,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,United Kingdom,Universal,Universalcredit,Universe,Unrest, Valueworks,Van Stock,Vantage,Vantage Sentinel,Version,Virtualisation,Visitour,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and data,Voicescape,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, Yuneo,TS Acutance Consulting, ...

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Sunday, 25 May 2025

Adopt OR Adapt

If you do the X / Bluesky thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

A common discussion that has cropped up in my recent projects has been that old chestnut, ‘should organisations look to adopt COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) solutions or look to adapt them to existing processes’ ?

Its certainly an interesting question to ask.

Some things to consider include working out ‘how unique are we around here’ and how close a COTS solution may even fit our situation. In my experience for core socialhousing solutions, uniqueness is relatively rare, with probably 85-90% of what we all do being pretty similar, not withstanding devolved country differences. The special-ness might be the types of residents we have, build types or geography (IE Radon emitting rocks, floodplains or lots of listed buildings in our stock to manage).

Also, confirm if the selected COTS solution is mature and capable of being adopted. If its still being written, not many current customers can be seen as already having successfully implemented it, then maybe its not suitable to adopt. That’s where many organisations have failed. Ask the right questions and assess the risks sufficiently. Maybe find the right COTS solution, or engage help from someone who can assist you there.

Recognise that a packaged solution is generally that, with its own APIs, import routines, UI IP that contractually you will be expected to use and will be supported by your supplier. While different suppliers may have user groups and forums for submitting suggestions and future functionality, unless this benefits multiple users of the product, its unlikely that they will be added. While this might sound somewhat punitive, it’s for everyone’s good. I have more than a handful of experiences where suppliers have allowed customisation, which before long results in an un-upgradeable product. So, don’t complain, it’s saving you from your self chum.

Of course, cases can be made for more homegrown and DIY solutions. Reasons for this can be many fold. Maybe organisations have deep pockets, have had bad experiences already with suppliers and pledge to never do COTS ever again (step forward L&Q), or have a large spare ICT resource. In the case of the latter, some organisations can get mixed up if they are a social housing provider, or a software house themselves. If you have this phenomena in your organisation, I suggest you look into this, also its governance. I have helped quite a number of organisations with some of these challenges recently. Often an external Critical Friend is a solid way to understand options forward.

Choosing to adopt with the right product, means less of reinventing the wheel every time.IE security, GDPR, integrations, a single source of the truth generally comes as standard. While we might have 1,000+ detail requirements, the core bread and butter best practices are sure to be well supported already, so we don’t need to sweat those. So we can quickly adopt those, while checking how other established organisations function with it. Concentrate on outputs, not the baggage of how we used to arrive at them!

Excessive adaption can dilute effectiveness and reinforce that old adage, “Well we have always done it this way”, so we need to twist the new solution to working like that. By avoiding often unnecessary customisations, organisations can reduce risk, save budget, speed up & make implementations more reliable and reduce coming years of expensive maintenance (a hit to the organisation by the way, not the supplier).

So what could some of the cons be here?

Well, pre-built solutions might not perfectly align with all organisational needs. Work to identify these early on in the procurement in order to spot future compromises and workarounds required. Possibly specialist solutions can be tightly integrated using modern API’s, or supported by minimal bespoke development internally. Choosing the wrong COTS solution might well also result in failure. I have been called on to look into projects scheduled for 18-21month implementation, already in year 4,5 or longer. These are rectifiable, yet often need bold actions if 'Stockholm Syndrome' has maybe crept in.

There is also plenty of scope for staff resistance to change. New processes or workflows might be difficult to embed, even if actual package or sector best practice is what’s being proposed. Good comms can be really useful here, as can networking openly with peers who are also using the COTS solutions successfully.

While the current traditional packaged solutions marketplace appears to be more controlled (& shrunk) by VC, ever shrinking, even more so this Spring 2025 with just less than a handful of large suppliers buying everything up, there are still independents (such as Omniledger and Rubixx), plus a range of Microsoft D365 Dynamics solutions, Salesforce and other solutions. Many of the latter can supply various degrees of productised and supported IP, which provides a hybrid COTS option. For these the buyer needs to understand what will be productised, how far that will take us and what the gap will cost, plus who will develop it. One for a whole blog post on its own I think that one.

In any case as the Romans used to say “caveat emptor”, perhaps get advice if you need it before purchasing, to ensure you are “Buyer beware”.

Any comments, observations or queries, please share.

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*** Join the discussion with Claire & Aiden ***

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Off the shelf or build your own - how to scope your options ?

Get in touch , I will drop in for a brew & bring your fave chocky biscuits ☕

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Wire – Adapt.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

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