Some organizations are large enough to have their own in-house IT departments. When you have talented tech people and programmers in your organization, it may be tempting to use those resources to create your own “homegrown” mailroom management solution rather than buying package tracking software off-the-shelf. This solution is a lot less appealing than it sounds. For starters, bear in mind how little free time your programmers have now. Then, imagine adding an additional forty hours of work each week to their schedule for the next few months. Also remember that no matter how talented your programmers are, they can only create for you exactly what you describe to them. While this may sound easy, remember that it is going to have to be someone’s job to describe precisely what every feature of your package logging software will do in exact detail. The programmers cannot do this task for you.
I know of several universities that have gone down the “homegrown” road in order to reduce their mailroom management budget, only to have found themselves stuck with a six figure per year maintenance cost on their project. How? “Feature creep.” This is a term that programmers use to describe how simple projects slowly become more complex. Invariably someone on the project will say, “Well, if it does ’A‘ then it should also do ’B.‘ While they may be quite logical in saying this, this line of thinking opens a Pandora’s box of new features and requirements. It does not take too long before three or four other departments have added their requirements to your new a
Let’s explore this concept by taking a look at another industry. When engineers first discussed building the space shuttle, they wanted it to be a single stage, inexpensive, completely reusable, inherently safe vehicle that could be re-launched within a week or so after landing. The space shuttle was none of those things. I’m not saying the space shuttle is bad. I am a huge fan of NASA and private companies that are trying to get us into space. What I am saying is that when fifteen committees got together to each add their own “special” requirements for the space shuttle program, it quickly became a behemoth project; it was a multi-stage, expensive, largely not reusable vehicle that took months to years to prepare to re-launch after landing. Essentially, the result (and its budget) strayed incredibly far from the original plan, due to the amount of parties from which input was gathered.
Here are three more things to think about when considering a make or buy decision:
Data Security
Information theft is a $65 billion industry. New information technologies make everything easy, particularly information theft. Is your IT department capable of creating and maintaining a package logging system based on today’s modern security requirements?
Ongoing Labor Costs
Ongoing costs can be a problem as well. Even if you were successful in creating your package tracking software under budget, you will also be responsible for all future system updates, not to mention routine and emergency maintenance. If the system goes down, there is no one to call but you!
Ownership
When a package logging system is created in-house there can be disputes over the “ownership” of the system itself. This is particularly true in the case of higher education where students are not asked to sign an agreement giving the university ownership of their work property. In that case, what happens when the student graduates? What if he asks the school for license and usage fees down the road?
In short, virtually all consumer software products have competition. This competition ensures that the pricing of these products reflects the amount of effort and ongoing costs that these applications represent. Further, most of these companies are experts in what they do and focus on little else. It is unlikely that your “homegrown solution” can really do it cheaper or better.
Reconsidering your decision to develop your package logging software in-house? Contact us or request a free demo to see how our cost-effective Easy Track It system can produce efficiencies in your mailroom management.
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