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If the software is not economical to write then it can't be all that important to the business, right? And if wages are really the problem then wouldn't we expe

by Thiez 5y ago

If the software is not economical to write then it can't be all that important to the business, right? And if wages are really the problem then wouldn't we expect a lot of such software to pop up outside of silicon valley, where wages for software developers tend to be considerably lower already?

ehnto 5y ago
I think that's a hard question to answer outright, it's going to depend, but you're probably right for a lot of cases. A recent example, a local school needed a new stock management tool for the school invetory, pretty simple stuff, but at a fairly reasonable contractor rate it was far and away too expensive for them. The economic trick we use is to turn it into a SaaS and get a bunch of people on board, but sometimes the problem is too unique or you don't want to take on a SaaS. You just want a small piece of software embedded in the business. There's lots of those small software opportunities in the community, I just think it would be cool to action them.
- Thiez 5y ago
  I have no experience in that area myself, but I assume most businesses (and schools!) track inventory. I would expect there to be plenty of commercial off-the-shelf inventory tracking solutions by now. Isn't that the case?
  - ehnto 5y ago
    Sort of, it's true there are lots of inventory tracking tools available but this school needed particular requirements that they couldn't find. Some of their requirments were that it needed to: - Run on their intranet - Run on a server they own - Not use user accounts but rather individual pins, anyone can use any pin, they need to match an already used pin system at the school - Work like a kiosk for ordering, enter pin, add items to a perpetual order - Track internal budgeting and generate reports, nonone actually pays or has limits but they wanted to see howmuch budget Pin X was using etc. - Purchase once, no subscriptions So that ruled out SaaS and since almost every modern software company is SaaS or just a desktop application they weren't able to find a reasonable replacement.
    - Thiez 5y ago
      Fair enough. I don't really see the advantage of pins over user accounts, and wonder how long it will take them to recoup the costs of developing a custom solution over just paying for a subscription. But if their requirements are not negotiable then it's understandable that custom software will be required.

by Thiez 5y ago

ehnto 5y ago

I think that's a hard question to answer outright, it's going to depend, but you're probably right for a lot of cases. A recent example, a local school needed a new stock management tool for the school invetory, pretty simple stuff, but at a fairly reasonable contractor rate it was far and away too expensive for them. The economic trick we use is to turn it into a SaaS and get a bunch of people on board, but sometimes the problem is too unique or you don't want to take on a SaaS. You just want a small piece of software embedded in the business. There's lots of those small software opportunities in the community, I just think it would be cool to action them.

Thiez 5y ago
I have no experience in that area myself, but I assume most businesses (and schools!) track inventory. I would expect there to be plenty of commercial off-the-shelf inventory tracking solutions by now. Isn't that the case?
- ehnto 5y ago
  Sort of, it's true there are lots of inventory tracking tools available but this school needed particular requirements that they couldn't find. Some of their requirments were that it needed to: - Run on their intranet - Run on a server they own - Not use user accounts but rather individual pins, anyone can use any pin, they need to match an already used pin system at the school - Work like a kiosk for ordering, enter pin, add items to a perpetual order - Track internal budgeting and generate reports, nonone actually pays or has limits but they wanted to see howmuch budget Pin X was using etc. - Purchase once, no subscriptions So that ruled out SaaS and since almost every modern software company is SaaS or just a desktop application they weren't able to find a reasonable replacement.
  - Thiez 5y ago
    Fair enough. I don't really see the advantage of pins over user accounts, and wonder how long it will take them to recoup the costs of developing a custom solution over just paying for a subscription. But if their requirements are not negotiable then it's understandable that custom software will be required.