Risk of error: The number of man years invested in the production of company-specific software will be less than that required to produce standard software of the same scope. It is also likely that the former will contain more bugs than the latter. On the other hand, standard software is not always completely stable; new software releases often have to be installed in quick succession, even though most of the changes are not relevant to a particular company. This is usually regarded as an unnecessary expense. Poor standard software can contain more bugs than good company-specific programs.........
Continuity: Here, again, it is not possible to give generally applicable advice. The pros and cons must be considered in each case. Although the teams involved in developing company-specific software are generally smaller, they also tend to be more committed to their program. Experience shows, however, that practically none of the companies that have produced logistics software packages have managed to issue a second generation of their successful package without going into liquidation or being taken over by another company. Both situations have direct consequences on the continuity of standard software packages.