Free business review
Paying for software that doesn't fit how you work?
There are three honest ways out: make what you have work properly, connect it to the rest, or replace it with software built around how you work. Replacing is the biggest step and often not the right one. A free review works out which, and the comparison below shows what each would really cost.
- You pay for a system per user, per month, and use a fraction of it.
- A spreadsheet lives beside the software to do the part it can't.
- The same details are typed into two subscriptions that don't talk to each other.
- Getting your own data out means a support ticket or a messy export.
- It was chosen for the business you were a few years ago.
Three possible outcomes
Improve it, connect it, or replace it
In that order. The first two are smaller, cheaper and quicker, and a review is just as likely to end at one of them, or at "leave it alone".
- Option 1
Improve what you have
Often the cheapest fix. Set the current system up properly for how you work, drop the seats and add-ons nobody uses, tidy the data and show people the features they're missing.
Best when: The software is sound, but it was set up in a hurry or never fully adopted.
- Option 2
Connect your existing tools
Keep the tools that work and stop retyping between them. An integration or automation moves information from one system to the next, so each does the job it's good at.
Best when: Each tool is fine on its own — the gaps between them are the problem.
From $2,500
- Option 3
Replace it
When the software genuinely doesn't fit — and configuring or connecting won't fix that — build something around how the business actually runs.
Best when: The workarounds have become the system, or no product does what you need.
From $8,500
Accounting, payments and regulated records (clinical records, for example) are usually better connected to an established provider than replaced. Those systems carry compliance, security and audit obligations that a custom build would have to take on, so the review looks at integrating with them first.
Illustrative cost comparison
Would replacing it cost less?
Put in your own figures. It compares what you pay now with the build and the monthly costs that would remain. It isn't a quote, it can show a custom system costing more, and nothing you enter leaves this page unless you choose to send it.
- Limited scope ($12,000): one workflow at the published starting price for a quote-to-invoice system, replacing $500/month of software. Not the cost of replacing a whole business platform. With hosting and a support plan it costs more each month than staying put.
- Broader system ($25,000): the published starting price for a custom business system, replacing the same $500/month. A higher build cost with no monthly saving.
- Higher current spend ($1,500/month): the same $25,000 system replacing $1,500/month of software. Here the monthly saving can pay the build back within the period.
Illustrative comparison
Not a quote · not a guaranteed saving
Fix the highlighted fields to see the comparison.
- Monthly operating difference
- Per year
- Current system over the period
- Custom system over the period
- Overall
- Payback
How it's worked out
- Monthly difference = current software − hosting − support plan − subscriptions kept.
- Upfront = development + migration and training.
- Current total = current software × months. Custom total = upfront + (hosting + support plan + subscriptions kept) × months.
- Payback = upfront ÷ monthly difference, only when the monthly difference is a saving.
- Leaves out tax effects, financing, future scope changes, downtime and the value of time saved.
From review to delivery
How a replacement actually happens
Nobody switches off the old system on a Friday and hopes. It moves across in stages, with the old one still there until the new one has earned it.
- 01
Free business review
Free
What you pay for, what each tool is used for and where it doesn't fit. It can end with keeping, configuring or connecting what you have.
- 02
Feasibility
Paid · from $850 · where required
Discovery, offered only if a build looks worthwhile and you want a proposal: what the system must do, what data moves across, and a realistic range. It can conclude that replacing isn't worth it.
- 03
Scope and ownership agreement
In writing
Before any build: what's delivered, in what stages, what you'll own and what's licensed, and the hosting and support arrangements and their charges.
- 04
Staged build and feedback
Stage by stage
One process or one team first, so you see something working early and problems surface while they're small, not in one big switch-over.
- 05
Migration and testing
Old system stays on
Export, clean, map and test-import your data. The old system stays in place until the moved data has been checked.
- 06
Handover and support
Support optional
Training on people's actual jobs, documentation and access handed over. Ongoing support is optional and recommended, on an agreed scope.
Three parts, scoped separately
What a build is made of
Each part is agreed and priced on its own, before work begins, so nothing ongoing is bundled in without you seeing it.
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Development
Building the system in agreed stages, each one reviewed with you before the next begins.
Builds from $8,500
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Infrastructure and deployment
Hosting, databases, access controls and backups. Cloud or on-premises are both options, depending on what's feasible and who looks after the hardware; they don't cost the same or suit every business equally.
Quoted with the build
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Ongoing support
Optional, and recommended: keeping the system working as the services it connects to change. The scope is agreed in writing, and anything outside it is quoted first.
From $450/month
The whole cost, not just the build
What a replacement really costs
A build quote on its own makes replacement look cheaper than it is. These are the parts to weigh against what you pay now, over several years, not one.
Every figure is a starting point. Hosting and support scope and charges are agreed in writing, with the build quote, before any work begins. Do It Better I.T. isn't registered for GST, so no GST is charged — the price quoted is the price you pay. Full list on the pricing page.
- The build
- A one-off. Databases and internal tools from $8,500, quote-to-invoice systems from $12,000, larger custom business systems from $25,000.
- Hosting
- A monthly cost for where the system runs, cloud or on your own equipment. It depends on users and data, so it's quoted with the build.
- Maintenance
- Optional ongoing support from $450/month, sized to your team and systems. Without it, keeping the system up to date is your responsibility, so weigh that time or cost either way.
- Integrations
- Services the system connects to, such as payments, accounting and email, keep their own fees, and their changes need keeping up with.
- Your team's time
- Checking migrated data, learning the new way of working and running both for a while. Real, even if it isn't on an invoice.
Ownership and handover
Agreed in writing, before the build
Who owns what isn't left to assumption. For each project the written agreement sets out the points below, and it's the agreement, not this page, that defines the rights. Ask about any of them at the review.
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Code written for your project
Whether it transfers to you, and when, is set out in the agreement.
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Reusable components
Parts used across projects may be licensed to you rather than transferred. The agreement says which, and on what terms.
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Third-party licences
Open-source components and paid services keep their own licence terms. You use them under those terms; neither of us owns them.
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Your data and exporting it
Your business data is yours. The agreement covers how you can export it and in what formats.
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Hosting and account access
Whose name the hosting, domain and service accounts are in, and who holds admin access.
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Documentation
What's written down for you: how the system is set up, run and backed up.
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Training
Who is trained, on what, and when.
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Support responsibilities
What a support plan covers if you take one, and what's yours to look after if you don't.
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Moving to another provider
What's handed over if you want someone else to run or develop the system.
Where to start
Start with the free review
Free · start here
Free business review
A conversation about what you're paying for, what each tool is used for and what's worth fixing first. It's a request, not a fixed appointment: we'll get back to you to arrange a time. It can end in "configure what you have" or "change nothing", and that's a useful answer. We do build software, so if a build is the right answer we'll say so, and a paid proposal is only offered if you ask for one.
Useful to have handy, if you can. None of it is required:
- The tools you pay for, and roughly what each costs a month
- What each one is actually used for, and by whom
- Where it doesn't fit: the workarounds and the double-handling
- Where your data lives, and whether you can get it out
No passwords, payment details or data exports at this stage.
Paid · from $850 · only if warranted
Discovery session
Comes after the review, and only when something genuinely needs building. It scopes the new system, the data that moves across and a realistic range, before you commit to any build.
Questions
The ones worth asking first
Will this save money?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. A custom system has its own build, hosting and (if you take it) support costs, and it rarely removes every subscription. The cost comparison on this page shows how quickly a higher build cost outweighs a monthly saving. The value is usually fit and control; a saving is possible, never guaranteed, and we'll say so if replacing doesn't come out ahead.
What if my current software is adequate?
Then keep it. Often the better answer is configuring it properly, dropping seats and add-ons nobody uses, or connecting it to the rest. A review that ends in "change nothing" is a useful result.
Can you connect our existing tools instead?
Often, yes. An integration or automation (from $2,500) keeps the tools that work and stops the retyping between them. For accounting, payment processing and clinical or other regulated records, connecting to an established provider is usually the safer choice than replacing it.
What do we own?
That's agreed in writing for each project before the build starts: whether the code written for you transfers and when, which reusable components are licensed rather than transferred, and whether you receive the source code. Your business data is yours. Third-party software stays under its own licence.
What happens to our data?
It's exported from the current system, cleaned, mapped and test-imported before anyone relies on it. How easy that is depends on what your current provider lets you export, which is one of the first things we check. How you can export it from the new system is covered in the agreement.
What recurring costs remain?
Hosting, any subscriptions the new system connects to or that you keep (accounting, email, payments), and a support plan if you choose one. They're listed and quoted with the build so the comparison is complete.
Could another developer maintain it?
That depends on what's handed over, and it's one of the things the agreement sets out: documentation, access, and what code and components are transferred or licensed. If being able to change provider matters to you, say so at the start and it's planned for.
How is migration handled?
In stages. Data is exported, cleaned, mapped and test-imported, the old system stays in place until the moved data has been checked, and people are trained before the switch.
Can we start with one workflow?
Yes, and it's usually the best way to begin: one process or one team first, so you see it working and decide on the next stage from there.
What's the difference between the free review and paid discovery?
The free review is a conversation about what you pay for and how the business runs, and it can end in "change nothing" or "configure what you have". Discovery is a paid, scoped step (from $850), offered only if a build looks worthwhile and you ask for a proposal: it works out what the new system must do, what data moves across, and a realistic range before you commit.
No obligation
Find out which of the three it is
A free conversation about what you're paying for and how the work actually gets done. You'll get a straight answer, including when it's "keep what you've got".
