Nobody decides on a Monday morning to spend thousands of euros a year on software. It happens quietly. An extra tool for projects, an upgrade because one feature sits in the more expensive plan, twenty euros per user here, thirty there. Until you do the sum for real.
The sum that rarely gets done
SaaS charges per user per month, and that is cleverly thought out. The amount feels small, you can cancel monthly and you do not have to invest anything. Precisely because each amount looks so manageable on its own, though, almost nobody adds them up.
A worked example, explicitly not a client case. Take a company of ten people with two tools everyone uses, say a CRM and a project tool, both 30 euros per user per month.
| Worked example | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| CRM, 10 users × €30 | €300 | €3.600 |
| Project tool, 10 users × €30 | €300 | €3.600 |
| Total | €600 | €7.200 |
7,200 euros a year, for two packages. And it rarely stops there. A reporting module gets added. An AI booster. A connection that only sits in the next plan up. Every year an email arrives saying prices are going up because there has been "significant investment in new features". And if you grow from ten to fifteen people, the bill grows along automatically, including for the colleagues who open the package twice a month.
By the time you notice, you are paying thousands of euros a year for packages you use half of. Nobody deceived you; there was simply never a moment when you saw that spend as one decision.
What you get in return
Fair is fair: you do get something for it. Convenience, above all. Create an account today, work tomorrow. Updates arrive by themselves, hosting is arranged, so is security. That is genuinely worth what it costs.
You also pay in three ways that never appear on the invoice:
- You bend your process to the package. Not the other way round. The package decides which fields exist, which steps you go through and what counts as "a deal". Your way of working folds itself around the vendor's software, together with that of all their other clients.
- Your data sits in their system. You can usually get at it, on their terms, in their format, through their export button.
- Cancelling means moving house. The subscription can be cancelled monthly, your way of working cannot. Moving everything across, teaching everyone to work again: that threshold is exactly what the business model leans on.
Own what sets you apart, rent what is generic
The alternative is not building everything yourself. That is expensive, slow and usually unnecessary. The rule of thumb is simpler:
Rent what is generic. Own what sets you apart.
Bookkeeping is the same for you as for any other company: ledger, VAT, invoices. There is standard software for that, and renting it is exactly right. The same goes for email and calendars. You do not stand out in those areas, so you do not want to build for them either.
Your client process is another story. How you go from request to quote, how you deliver and follow up, what you promise and how you make good on it: that is precisely what sets you apart from the competitor with the same standard package. Force that process into a generic tool and you work, by definition, like everybody else. And pay for the privilege every month.
What that looks like at Bravio in practice
Owning does not have to mean a big investment up front. Our model is one of the ways to do it. We build per phase, so after every phase you have something that already works. You start in monthly instalments, with no large sum up front, and you can buy out whenever you want. From that moment the system is yours. And your data is always exportable, including while we are still in the middle of it.
The difference with renting is not in the first month, where the amounts look alike. The difference is in the direction. With renting you pay again every year for the same thing, with the annual increase on top. With building you are working towards something: a workspace that is yours and that follows your process instead of the other way round. How that works price-wise is set out in the pricing section of the home page.
When renting is simply the right choice
To stay honest: sometimes SaaS wins the sum. Small team, process fits a standard package fine, little need for anything bespoke? Then keep renting. A few tens of euros a month for something that simply works is a fine deal, and building would be a waste of your money.
The sum turns once the team grows, the number of tools grows with it, and you are ever more often the one retyping information between packages. Then you pay the subscriptions and the hours it takes to tie them together on top.
So pull out your invoices from the past twelve months. Add up the subscriptions, count the users, and ask yourself for each package: do we really use this, and does it set us apart in any way? What is generic may stay. What sets you apart deserves better than a rental contract.