Insight
Why bespoke business systems are no longer just for big business
Many businesses spend countless hours moving information between different systems, adapting their processes to fit software that was never designed for the way they actually work.
For years, creating bespoke solutions was expensive and often out of reach for smaller businesses. Today, that’s changing. AI isn’t replacing the need for human expertise – it’s making it easier than ever to explore ideas, connect systems and build solutions that genuinely fit the business.
AI didn't replace what I do. It reminded me why I do it.
When AI first burst onto the scene, I had the same questions many people in web development did.
Would clients still need someone to build websites?
Would years of technical experience still matter?
Was the work I’d spent nearly two decades doing about to become less valuable?
The answer surprised me.
AI hasn’t made me less relevant.
It’s reminded me what my real value has been all along.
It's no longer just about building websites
For years I’ve described myself as a web developer, but when I look back at the projects I’ve enjoyed most, they were never really about websites.
They were about understanding how a business works.
A website was often just one part of the solution.
The interesting conversations were always about questions like:
- Where is information being entered twice?
- What manual processes could be automated?
- Why are staff spending hours moving data between systems?
- What information would help you make better decisions?
- If we changed this process, what else would it affect?
Those are business questions, not technical ones.
AI has changed what's possible
The biggest change isn’t that AI can write code or create formulas.
It’s that exploring ideas has become incredibly fast.
A few years ago, if I had an idea for improving a workflow, it might have taken days just to build a prototype. That meant many ideas simply weren’t worth exploring.
Now I can ask, “What if we did it this way?”
Within minutes, I have something to test.
Then I can ask:
“What happens if a member renews late?”
“What if this customer doesn’t pay?”
“What if we need to track inventory as well?”
“What happens if the business grows?”
Instead of trying to design the perfect solution upfront, we can build, test, challenge assumptions and refine it together.
The best solutions don’t appear fully formed. They evolve through conversation.
AI hasn't replaced thinking. It's created more opportunities for it.
One of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it removes the need to think.
My experience has been exactly the opposite.
Because the cost of trying ideas is so much lower, I spend far more time thinking about better ways to solve problems.
I find myself asking more questions.
Exploring more possibilities.
Testing more edge cases.
The technology does some of the heavy lifting, but someone still has to understand the business well enough to ask the right questions.
That’s the part I enjoy most.
Every business is different
One thing I’ve realised is that many businesses have spent years adapting their processes to fit software.
“We do it this way because that’s what the software allows.”
Now we’re moving towards a world where software can adapt to fit the business instead.
Sometimes that’s connecting existing systems with APIs.
Sometimes it’s creating a custom report from multiple sources.
Sometimes it’s a Google Sheet that models a business in exactly the way the owner thinks about it.
Sometimes it’s a website that becomes part of the business workflow rather than just an online brochure.
The technology matters far less than understanding the problem you’re trying to solve.
Before I recommend a platform, build an integration or create a custom report, I always come back to one question:
What problem are we actually trying to solve?
The answer often looks very different from the solution we first imagined.
A renewed excitement
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me has been how energising this has become.
It’s no longer about delivering another website.
It’s about asking:
“How can we make a real difference to this business?”
“How can we reduce manual work?”
“How can we give business owners better information?”
“How can we build systems that help people make better decisions?”
Those are much more interesting questions.
AI hasn’t changed my career in the way I expected.
It hasn’t replaced what I do.
It has expanded what’s possible.
And that’s made me more excited about the future of this work than I have been in a long time.
If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “There has to be a better way to do this,” you’re probably right. The exciting part is that building bespoke solutions is no longer something reserved for large organisations with huge development budgets. Today, with the right questions and the right tools, it’s becoming accessible to businesses of all sizes.