Anyone who wants to automate their customer service, phone or administration soon arrives at a choice. Do you take a standard tool that you set up yourself, or do you have a solution built that is tailored to your business?
Both routes can work. Which one suits you depends less on the technology than on how your business is put together. In this article we set out the differences.
What we mean by standard software
Standard software is a product that is the same for everyone. You create an account, go through the settings and get started. The supplier decides what the product can do, and you decide how you use it within those limits.
That has clear advantages:
- You can often start the same day
- The costs are known in advance
- You do not need to have anything built
The downside is that you adapt to the tool. Setting up, connecting and maintaining it is up to you, and where the product stops, your automation stops too.
What we mean by custom AI
With a custom solution the order is reversed. First we look at how your business works: which questions come in, which steps follow, and in which systems you record things. Then the AI is tailored to that and connected to the tools you already use.
Custom does not mean that everything is written from scratch. At Flowix we work with fixed building blocks for customer service, telephony, social media, internal processes and findability. Those building blocks are the same, but how they are set up, combined and connected for your business is different every time.
Five questions to help you choose
- How standard is your process? Does a customer question run the same way with you as at any other business, or does it involve your own steps, exceptions and agreements?
- Which systems does it need to work with? A calendar, a CRM, a helpdesk, a webshop: the more that needs to be connected, the more setup it takes.
- Who is going to set it up and maintain it? Standard software needs someone in your team who has the time for it and enjoys it.
- How important is your tone? An AI that talks to customers on your behalf has to sound like your business and know your services.
- What happens when you grow? Can the solution move with you when you add a channel, location or service?
When standard software is fine
Not every business needs custom work. Standard software is a good fit if you want to automate one clear task, your process is simple, little needs to be connected and someone in your team takes on the management.
It is also a good way to discover what AI can do for you before you take a bigger step.
When custom is the better choice
A custom solution pays for itself as soon as one of these points applies:
- You work with several systems that need to talk to each other
- Customer contact runs through several channels, such as chat, phone and WhatsApp
- Your process has steps a standard tool does not know
- Nobody in your team has time to set up and maintain a tool
- You want the solution to grow with your business
In those cases, adapting a standard tool often costs more time than it delivers.
What a custom project looks like
At Flowix a project runs in three steps:
- Getting to know each other. In a free demo we analyse your business processes and look at where automation offers opportunities.
- Building. We configure the AI agents to fit your business and integrate them with your existing tools and systems.
- Growing. Your agents go live. We keep optimising and help you scale up when you are ready for more.
Most implementations are live within 5 working days. The components can be cancelled monthly, so you are not tied to a long-term contract.
Conclusion
The question is not which approach is better, but which one suits your business. If your process is simple and you have time to set up a tool yourself, standard software will take you a long way. If you work with several systems, channels or your own ways of working, a custom solution delivers more.
Not sure? In a demo call we look at your situation with you and you hear honestly which route delivers the most.