I have been building companies in the software services sector for over 30 years. Basically there are two types of companies selling such services. Those who offer proprietary products (ie everyone gets the same thing, today usually known as Software as a Service or SaaS), and those who offer bespoke solutions (ie they will build what you need... or at least you hope they will). India for example is awash with firms offering bespoke development. SaaS is far cheaper to buy and use than Bespoke and will be easier and more reliable to operate long term. But SaaS offerings usually won't do everything you require, and they're all available to your competitors. However, commissioning bespoke software is complicated to do well and always painful. There are countless examples of governments spending fortunes on projects that overrun and sometimes have to be cancelled. It happens a lot in industry as well, but you don't hear about them for obvious reasons. The bigge
My kids call me Grom (Grumpy Old Man). OK, pedants will know that ought to be GOM, but a Grom sounds grumpy. I started building internet businesses in the 1980s and these days invest in other peoples' start-ups. Now that less of my life is about to happen than has happened, I've got a lot to get off my chest. This blog is a series of posts about things that annoy me, things that excite me or things that just need to be said. Grumbles of a Grom... Grombles