Overview
Generic off-the-shelf tools are often built for simple startup requirements, or large businesses that need to handle excess bureaucracy and paperwork. An off-the-shelf system can offer value when your business has the same problem as thousands of others, for example in payroll, or in accounting. But when it is in an area your business wants to compete in, then you don’t have standard needs, you want to differentiate by what you focus on, or how you run the business.
For example, manufacturers use custom software to integrate advanced technologies into their businesses to adapt to global manufacturing megatrends and remain competitive.
Competing effectively and ensuring your business can grow without limits creates unique needs that make custom digital tools an attractive option. Creating your own digital tools is not just meeting a need, it is creating an asset that adds value to your business. We call that digital sovereignty.
Digital Sovereignty
Digital sovereignty is about recognising that when you just license, or rent, your digital tools then the advantage you gain from using it is less competitive. In short, it can be obtained by your competitors as easily as you did, or it can be lost by the supplier deciding to double their prices, being acquired, or evolving their product away from your needs.
You own the code
You control the roadmap
Your digital asset
Assets not Expenses
Custom digital tools are strategic corporate assets not recurring expenses eroding margins. The promise of digital sovereignty is that:
- You own the code
- You control the roadmap
- You build your digital assets, not someone else’s.
Having digital sovereignty means you have control over the assets that give you the advantage you need when competing in increasingly volatile global markets. You can decide where you need flexibility, and where efficiency is paramount, not some product team on the other side of the world.
Scale and Resilience
One key advantage of custom digital tools is that you can use them to help scale your business by automating manual processes, or connecting systems that might otherwise not work together, eliminating bottlenecks. Intergy clients have done this to integrate systems with suppliers and shippers, reducing manual paperwork, allowing warehouses to handle more ingoing and outgoing deliveries with the same staff.
Another advantage of custom digital tools is that they can provide greater resilience than an off-the-shelf system, by being properly tailored to your business needs. If you think of software like clothing for your business, then we have all had those times when you want to let something out or take it in. We make belts so we can configure some of those changes, but a truly tailored solution uses seams to allow for easy modification when required. Digital sovereignty means you own the software and can make the changes you need when you need them – it also allows you to put the seams in that software in the places that make sense for your business.
Summary
Digital sovereignty is all about creating strategic assets for your business that drive competitive advantage. Taking control of areas that allow you to beat the competition, add more value, scale successfully, and eliminate inefficiency, without becoming hostage to a subscription model or overseas vendor.
By owning your digital tools they are customised for your needs, built flexible where you need them to be, without unnecessary features that distract, or teasing premium features that you don’t want to buy. Training becomes easier, integration with your business processes is built in, not an afterthought.
Use our contact form below if you want to see what digital sovereignty might mean for your business.