As your business evaluates its next steps for launching a new POS system, you inevitably arrive at a crossroads. 

Should you assemble a team and create what you need from the ground up? Will an off-the-shelf solution suit your requirements? Or does it make sense to customize a new system in a way that will satisfy all your business needs?

The question of whether to build, buy, or customize is a pivotal decision that will define the future of your operations. Any POS solution you choose is a transformational investment of your team’s time, budget, and resources. But no matter which route you go, you can’t allow this investment to go to waste.

Below, we break down some pros and cons of each approach along with a core recommendation: You shouldn’t have to make this decision on your own.

Research Is Key When Considering a New Retail System

The answer to the build vs. buy vs. customize question often depends on your budget as well as your target date to launch. However, another major consideration is what your POS system needs to accomplish for your business. 

When you work with the right partner, you’re able to take a holistic look at your business needs before choosing a way forward with your software. Kitestring applies the following steps to develop a holistic view of whether to build, buy, or customize your POS solution:

1. Documentation. Identify the pain points of your current system through user research and a thorough jobs to be done analysis. Just as importantly, you have to capture what your system does exceptionally well, so you know which parts to preserve.

2. Architecture Analysis. If your organization doesn’t have a spiderweb diagram outlining how your retail system functions, now is the time. The results from jobs-to-be-done will ensure you note all the details of your system architecture. You should also look at any changes or requirements from its integrated systems, such as your customer loyalty program. Integrations are one of the major sources of complexity in retail system projects, so you have to include your current hardware stack along with any needed software updates or out of date components. All of these details can have a major impact on your project.

3. Market Research. Talk to your customers and business partners to validate the findings from your jobs-to-be-done analysis. Compare your spiderweb to the architecture diagrams of competing systems to evaluate their potential fit with your business needs.

4. Alignment and Draft Business Case. Start putting numbers together for the right approach to your new POS system. Always design as if you were going to build and size that process and compare the effort it will take to the cost of a partner. The design should be the same, but the transition plans will differ greatly. Consider your current team and the current demand signals for change. And don’t overlook ongoing maintenance and compliance.
   

Understanding that effort makes the financial case that much stronger and justifiable. We’ve designed, implemented, and built many retail systems over our 26 years and can provide expertise and resources to move your company forward.

5. Project Planning. Comprehensive research develops a picture of what you have, what you need, and the start of what it will take for your business to get there. If this analysis reveals you are firmly in the build camp, that’s great. The transition plan from your current to target architecture developed during the research stage provides a foundation to build upon.

From there, you’re ready to make an informed choice from the following options:

1. Buy: An Out-of-the-Box POS Solution

An off-the-shelf system offers considerable advantages when your business needs to align with an existing solution. Your business will likely go to market faster by not having to worry about customizations. Plus, there is a good chance you will reduce costs by not having to tailor the solution to fit your needs.

Picking the right off-the-shelf system is a strategic decision beyond the product. Is the provider of this POS software a partner who is open to innovating with you? RFPs and RFIs can be daunting, and we have done our fair share. When you work with Kitestring, we can run this process for you and position you for success with this new relationship.

When analyzing POS systems, look for key features that match your pain points and strengths. Also, as you evaluate a system, you have to understand how quickly it can change to serve your needs. 

The gap from a desired change to implementation is straight opportunity cost. Understanding those potential expenses when evaluating vendors should be a key area of focus. You also have to consider maintenance and any potential professional services costs when talking to the vendors. Your up-front cost is only one component of the potential impact to your budget.

Many businesses opt for an out-of-the-box system in the hopes of making it match their operations. While that approach is technically possible, it’s very rare. So, proceed with caution when opting for the faster, potentially cheaper approach. You have to be able to position your operations around what you’re buying off the shelf.

If you have flexible business components that are not differentiators, then buying off the shelf is a great option. But you have to be able to let this function be shaped by the enterprise software — not the other way around.

2. Build: Bespoke Retail Software to Fit a Bespoke Business

If you have very specific business needs that your POS software has to satisfy, creating a system from the ground up can be a viable approach. 

Building a system from the ground up is the best approach if your POS software needs to satisfy very specific business needs. Of course, creating a new system requires the right development talent, which many companies don’t have on hand. By working with the right partner, your organization can add the expertise to create a system that’s tailored to your needs. 

The challenge with a build option, however, is you have to be able to replicate all your business needs and any custom logic associated with them. Building the right software to serve all these goals is time-consuming. Plus, you have to ensure you’re not building a new system to support legacy processes. Some companies plan to lift-and-shift all their functionality to support a software tool that’s over 10 years old. Rather, you have to ensure all your processes are up to date for a modern bespoke system to be successful.

At this stage, you should have a solid target architecture, and a good list of requirements. When you work with Kitestring, you’re able to take our analysis and start fleshing out the program and make a development plan. You should take a critical look at your current team and their capabilities in relation to the road ahead. Where do they need help? If you need additional skills, resources, or project guidance, we can help.

From the start, you have to review your design with your technical teams and business partners to ensure it allows for maximum flexibility. Retail systems change over time, and a brittle architecture can be costly down the road. Plan to use enterprise services and deconstruct any monoliths or choke points in your design.

As you evaluate the scope of your project, you can’t overlook compliance and maintenance. Patching your own software and staying up to date on compliance changes is a non-trivial undertaking for your teams. Make sure your plan includes long-term support and upgrades.

In cases like these, companies often opt for an out-of-the-box SaaS or enterprise option to ensure their system is maintained. Kitestring also offers multiple technology staffing options to ensure your new system remains functional and supported going forward.

3. Customize: A Potential Best of Both Worlds

A customized system provides your business with a combination of both the buy and build options. In this scenario, you buy a POS system as a foundation that you then adjust to suit your business. This approach doesn’t require the same time investment as a custom-built system while also adding more flexibility to off-the-shelf software.

While customizations often lead to a greater investment of time and budget, a strategic approach to implementation will help minimize both. In a recent engagement with a convenience store chain, we recommended a solution that suited the retailer’s needs to support OTR payments. The company was under a tight timeline, so we guided them through the best ways to minimize code customizations while keeping their project within scope and on budget.

The risk in pursuing a custom option is making sure that your software system can be customized to meet all of your needs. Many software vendors often over promise just how flexible their solutions are and how much customization they can support. You need to thread the needle of differentiating between a sales pitch and the actual capabilities of a retail platform. 

Make the Right Choice for Your New Retail System

Many organizations place too much emphasis on a software’s technical capabilities when making these decisions — which is the wrong approach. When you work with Kitestring, our strategic consultants conduct comprehensive research into your business needs to go along with our decades of experience with POS systems.

As you plan the way forward to build, buy, or customize your new retail platform, you need to secure alignment in your teams. Before you make any decision, you should know what you want, what it will take to make it, and what options can suit your needs. Once you’ve gathered all the facts, you have to bring your team together and ensure you’re all in agreement about the right way forward.

Kitestring has the knowledge of the many software solutions at your disposal and can audit their capabilities to ensure the right choice fits your needs. Our strategic consulting team will develop a checklist of the details that drive your business. Do you have a loyalty program? Do you need to align customer IDs online and in stores? From there, we can identify a better retail system that will serve your goals. Or we can help your team level up their skills and fill the gaps in your talent you need to achieve whatever option you’ve chosen to pursue.

When you work with Kitestring, you gain the experience and expertise to guide your business toward the right decision. Curious about the right way ahead for your needs? Contact us and let’s talk.