Ready-made VS Bespoke FSM Solution: Pros and Cons
Business automation has been trending in many industries recently, and this is also true for field services enterprises. Specialized software, such as field service management (FSM) tools, can boost revenue by increasing the efficiency and transparency of field operations.
However, choosing between an off-the-shelf and custom FSM solution is not always easy. This article compares bespoke and ready-made FSM systems in terms of crucial factors and requirements so that you can make an informed decision.
Implementation time
One of the major perks of adopting a ready-made FSM solution is that you can use it straight away, with no need to wait until it’s designed, developed and tested. Of course, since there are so many offerings in the market, you might spend some time choosing the solution that would perfectly fit your needs and budget limitations. Nevertheless, overall implementation time is way shorter than with custom solutions.
Developing an FSM system on your own might take months or even years, depending on your resources, functional requirements and whether you outsource the development to an independent contractor or build the system internally.
Flexibility
In terms of flexibility, custom-built software enables more opportunities compared to off-the-shelf solutions that might lack customization options. When you develop your own FSM system, you’re free to add any functionality you like and design an app tailored to your specific needs.
Ready-made software is usually less flexible: it might have modules or functions you won’t need and lack those that you actually require. However, there are lots of industry- or purpose-specific solutions on the market that are specifically designed for different types and sizes of businesses. Planado, for example, is an excellent fit for field service companies and considers all functionality such organizations might need. You can also pay only for the features you use by picking up a custom plan
Support and maintenance
When you purchase a turnkey FSM solution, you don’t normally have to worry about further product support and maintenance. Most software providers offer various support options, FAQs and help from the user community. Besides, you can count on regular product updates (which are often free) since software vendors are constantly fixing bugs, handling user complaints and adding new functionality.
With bespoke software, technical support and maintenance can be quite costly, especially if you outsource the development to an independent contractor who will charge you for any extra work. This becomes especially daunting when maintaining large corporate systems like an FSM platform.
Security and data storage
With ready-made software, security and data storage options largely depend on whether it’s a cloud/SaaS solution or it can be deployed on-premise. Most cloud solutions providers store users’ files and data on their servers, and you fully depend on them in terms of data security.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that data is somehow less protected than on your company’s servers — in fact, since cloud solutions have thousands of users, data protection is taken seriously by responsible vendors. Some FSM providers offer multiple deployment options and enable data storage both in the cloud or on-premise.
Integrations
Custom software can usually be integrated into any of your corporate systems as you like — this is just a matter of time, budget and the amount of coding. For example, FSM solutions are often bundled with CRM platforms to enable customer data exchange between the two systems.
Whether or not you’ll be able to connect a ready-made FSM solution to your corporate systems largely depends on the integration options that particular solution provides. Planado, for instance, offers both API and quick integrations via Zapier, which means you can connect your FSM system to any of over 3,000 applications — CRM, Helpdesk, ERP, etc.
Total costs
Turnkey FSM solutions are often cheaper in terms of upfront costs, since you can start using the software immediately after purchasing. Total costs depend on whether it’s a single-time purchase or you pay a subscription fee each month. But even with subscription plans, ready-made solutions can turn out to be more beneficial economically, as compared to custom software, when the costs of support and maintenance are factored in.
Developing an FSM solution from scratch is by all means an expensive endeavor, with high initial costs. However, this might be a worthy investment if you need a highly specialized system that is not available on the market or is extremely expensive. In this case, developing your own solution might turn out cheaper in the long run.
Summing up
Whether to choose a ready-made FSM solution or develop a system from scratch largely depends on your business needs, time and budget requirements and limitations. If you want a quick start-off and don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to spend at the moment, adopting a turnkey FSM solution like Planado might be a sound idea. If you’re ready to wait and invest more to get your own custom software that would perfectly fit your very specific requirements, then a bespoke solution is what you need.
