1. Start with the workflow, not the software category
Off-the-shelf software often assumes an average firm’s process. Your firm may instead have a repeated handoff involving an inquiry, an intake record, a case-management record, a staff assignment or a client update. Custom Software is intended for tools such as client portals, intake tools and internal dashboards built around the way a firm works. The useful question is not whether custom software sounds advanced. It is whether a specific recurring task is important enough to define and improve.
Recommended approach
Bring one concrete bottleneck to review. Describe who performs the task, what information is entered, where the process pauses and what a successful result would allow staff to do. Keep the first scope narrow enough that the firm can evaluate it against agreed acceptance criteria.
