# Custom workflow platform or off-the-shelf software?
Choose configured software when it fits the work. Consider a custom platform when essential rules, evidence or integrations cannot be maintained within that product.
## Test fit with real cases
Ask each supplier to demonstrate a normal case, a returned approval and an exception involving more than one team. Record where configuration is sufficient and where the demonstration depends on manual work outside the system. A checklist of features can conceal a poor fit at the handovers that matter most.
## When an existing product is a good choice
An established product can be appropriate when your process follows a common pattern, its permission model is sufficient and supported integrations reach your systems. Check the cost of the required edition, configuration and support. Also test how staff will export their records and evidence if you later change supplier.
## When custom development earns its cost
A custom platform is worth considering when the operating process is central to the service you sell, when several organisations share complicated responsibilities or when source evidence and approval history need a structure the available products cannot provide. Confirm those gaps through a practical evaluation before treating custom development as the default.
## Consider a combined approach
Keep established systems for functions they handle well, such as finance, identity or document storage. Build the specific workflow between them where needed. This reduces the scope of custom software, but creates integration responsibilities that someone must own when an external system changes.
## Compare ownership over the same period
Compare licence tiers, implementation, integration, migration, support and change costs over an agreed planning period. For custom work, include hosting, security maintenance and internal ownership. Request clear exit terms, source-code rights where applicable and a handover plan. The cheaper first release may not be the less expensive operating model.
## Related reading
- [How to implement a workflow platform](/solutions/guides/implementing-a-workflow-platform)
- [Client onboarding for advisory firms](/solutions/advisory-client-onboarding)
- [Evidence and approval workflows for professional services](/solutions/evidence-approval-workflows)
- [Property compliance workflows](/solutions/property-compliance-workflows)
- [Inspection and remedial action management](/solutions/inspection-remediation-management)
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