We code the rules of your trade.

Pricing, checks, planning, approvals: software that applies your know-how, instead of the workbook only one person knows how to maintain.

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Atelier VarenneJoinery · Lyon
QUOTE D-2026-118Date: 09/14/2026 · Valid 30 days
ClientMrs Claire Laurent · 12 rue des Tanneurs, 69002 Lyon
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Demo: fictional company, prices and rules.

Custom business software.

Custom business software is your know-how written as rules, applied without exception.

Custom business software is software designed to apply the rules of one specific trade: it prices a quote from your rate grids, checks a file against your criteria, routes a decision to the right person for approval and produces the documents that follow. OTTOPILOTE builds this software for SMBs, from writing down the rules to going live.

What it is not

It differs from off-the-shelf software, built for the rules every company shares, and from an Excel workbook, where the rule lives in formulas only one person still knows how to maintain. Here, every rule is written down, tested and applied the same way, whoever the user is.

When it makes sense

It makes sense when your way of pricing, checking or approving is part of your value, and off-the-shelf software forces you to work around it. If a packaged product covers the essentials, the right move is often to keep it and build only the missing module, connected to it.

Why in batches

According to the Standish Group, small software projects succeed about 90% of the time, against under 10% for large ones. That is why we split business software into batches: the core rules first, in production, then the rest based on real usage.

~90 % of small software projects succeed, against under 10% of large ones. Standish Group, CHAOS Report 2020

The boundary.

Business software or web application, where the line falls.

Both are coded the same way and often open in a browser. What separates them is what the tool does with your data: organise and share it, or apply a rule.

Web application

The tool that organises and shares information.

  • Client portal
  • Dashboard
  • Back office, internal CRM

What matters: everyone finds the right information, in the right place, up to date.

  1. Give my clients access to their filesInformation to share, in the right place.
  2. Track my metrics without Excel exportsGathering and displaying existing data.
  3. Centralise contacts and conversation historyOrganising and finding information.
See web applications
Business software

The software that applies your know-how.

  • Pricing from your grids
  • Checks and audits
  • Approval workflow

What matters: the rule is right every time, without depending on the person who knows it.

  1. Price a quote with my coefficients and discountsA calculation rule specific to your trade.
  2. Hold an order until the manager approves itAn approval workflow, with its condition.
  3. Produce an audit report from the data enteredChecks and calculations that must be reproducible.

What we build.

Five kinds of business software we are asked for most.

Each one replaces a rule that lives today in a workbook, an email or one person’s memory.

  1. Pricing

    The pricing and quoting software

    Your price grids, coefficients, discounts and minimum margins applied to every quote. A salesperson can no longer sell below the threshold without a manager’s approval, and the quote goes out without re-entry.

    Replaces: the pricing workbook
  2. Audit and control

    The audit or control tool

    Checkpoints, financial or regulatory calculations and a report produced from the data entered. The result is reproducible: two people auditing the same file get the same figure.

    Example: Odiwise, real estate financial audit
  3. Planning

    The production or field-service planner

    Assign a task based on skills, availability and the constraints of your business, then follow it in the field from a phone. The plan recalculates when a constraint changes.

    Replaces: the whiteboard and phone calls
  4. Approval

    The approval workflow

    A request follows the right path based on its amount, type or client, and each step records who approved what, and when. No more purchase order lost in an inbox.

    Replaces: email back-and-forth
  5. Documents

    Business document generation

    Deeds, reports, certificates or technical sheets generated from the data, in your trade’s format. On Quorum, legal software built by OTTOPILOTE, drafting a deed drops from hours to minutes.

    Example: Quorum, legal Open →

What is included.

What business software delivered by OTTOPILOTE includes.

The rules first, written down and tested. The rest follows: roles, connections, data migration, hosting.

  • 01
    Your rules written before coding

    A scoping document written with the people who apply the rules every day, approved before the first line of code.

  • 02
    Every rule covered by a test

    Calculations and checks are verified automatically at every change: an update does not break what worked.

  • 03
    Roles, approvals and audit trail

    Who enters, who approves, who views. Every decision keeps its author and date.

  • 04
    Connection to your ERP, accounting, CRM

    The software reads from and writes to your existing tools: no double entry between operations and administration.

  • 05
    Migration of your Excel files

    Your historical data cleaned and migrated, results recalculated and compared with the spreadsheet’s.

  • 06
    On the right screen

    Browser at the office, phone in the field: the same software, the same rules.

  • 07
    Hosting, backups, monitoring

    Continuous deployment, monitoring, tested backups.

  • 08
    Source code is yours

    Rights assignment written into the contract, Git repository and documentation handed over on delivery, once the project is paid.

  • 09
    30 days of fixes, weekly demos

    A demo every Friday during the project, thirty days of fixes after delivery.

Method.

From workbook to software, rule by rule.

A first batch in production in six to eight weeks, the pace published for a custom management tool. The next batches start from real usage.

  1. S1

    Write down the rules

    We list your calculations, checks and workflows with the people who apply them, edge cases included. The document becomes the reference.

  2. S2

    Mock up the screens

    The entry and approval screens drawn and approved together, before building.

  3. S3 → S6

    Code the core rules

    Calculations and checks first, each with its test, then screens and connections to your tools. A demo every Friday.

  4. S7

    Replay your real files

    Your past files run through the software and we compare with the spreadsheet’s result. Gaps are fixed before going live.

  5. S8 →

    Go live, then the next batch

    Go-live, handover of access and code, thirty days of fixes. The next batch is scoped from usage.

Technologies.

A standard stack, for software anyone can take over.

The same building blocks as our web applications: widespread, documented, and something another team can take over if you wish.

Next.js · React Interface and API in one project
TypeScript Typed code, fewer errors in production
PostgreSQL · Supabase Database, authentication, storage
Vercel Hosting, continuous deployment
API REST · webhooks Connections to your tools and third-party APIs
Google Workspace · Microsoft 365 Synced calendars, email, documents
Claude · OpenAI AI features: extraction, generation, assistants

Budget.

What custom business software costs.

The ranges published in our guide to custom software development. The quote itself starts from your rules.

  1. Simple internal toolOne calculation or workflow, a few screens.
    €5,000 → €15,000
  2. SMB business softwareRules, roles, connections to your tools, data migration.
    €15,000 → €50,000
  3. ERP or complex business platformSeveral trades, several sites, heavy load.
    €50,000 and up
  4. MaintenanceFixes, rule changes, security.
    15 to 20% of the budget per year

Ranges published in “The complete guide to custom software development in 2026”; maintenance: Web applications page. Free, capped quote within 24 hours.

See the cost guide →

Why OTTOPILOTE.

What changes with us.

Your rules before our code

We write down what the software must decide with the people who decide it today. Nothing gets coded on an assumption.

A capped quote, a kept deadline

The price is set before we start. If we run late, we absorb the extra days.

You own the code

Git repository, access and documentation handed over. No dependency on us or on a vendor.

Off-the-shelf when it is enough

If off-the-shelf software covers your need, we tell you in the first conversation, and only build what is missing.

AI where it actually helps

Document extraction, deed or report generation: integrated when they replace a repetitive task.

A human reply within 24 hours

A brief, an honest read, a quote. No slide deck.

Case study.

Odiwise, financial auditing out of the spreadsheets.

1/3 Business software · Financial audit of real estate projects
The problem

At the start: heavy financial analyses, scattered across spreadsheets, slow to produce and easy to break as soon as a figure changes.

What we built

Real software: structured data entry, automated audit calculations, clear deliverables, in place of fragile Excel sheets.

The result

Development is not finished, but the client already uses it: part of the analyses that took her hours is now generated reliably and reproducibly, with the data in one place. She has even pre-sold the software to a first buyer.

Talk about your software →

Frequently asked questions.

What we get asked before signing.

Software designed to apply the rules of one specific trade: calculations, checks, approval workflows, document generation. It differs from off-the-shelf software, built for the rules every company shares, and from an Excel workbook, where the rule depends on formulas and on the person who maintains them.

A web application organises and shares information: client portal, dashboard, back office. Business software applies know-how: it calculates, checks and routes approvals according to your rules. It often takes the form of a web application, but what matters is that the rule is right every time. One project often mixes both.

An ERP or off-the-shelf product is enough when your rules are those of your whole industry. Custom software makes sense when your way of pricing, checking or approving is your value and the product forces you to work around it. In between, we often keep the product and build the missing module, connected to it.

Count €5,000 to €15,000 for a simple internal tool, €15,000 to €50,000 for SMB business software and €50,000 and up for an ERP or complex platform, then 15 to 20% of the budget per year for maintenance. These ranges are detailed in our guide to custom software development; the quote is free and capped.

A custom management tool ships in six to eight weeks. Larger business software is split into batches: the core rules in production first, at that pace, then the next batches based on real usage. Integrations and data migration are what move the timeline most.

Under French law, rights to software created by a contractor do not pass to the client automatically: the assignment must be written into the contract (article L113-9 of the Intellectual Property Code only covers employees). At OTTOPILOTE it is, and the source code is handed over on delivery, once the project is paid.

Yes, and it is often the best choice. The business software connects to your existing tools through their APIs: it reads the data it needs and sends back what it produces, without double entry. You keep the standard product for day-to-day administration and custom software for what sets you apart.

We choose which history to migrate, clean the data, then run your past files through the software to compare its results with the spreadsheet’s. Gaps often reveal an implicit rule, which we write down before going live. Our guide on migrating from Excel to business software details the seven steps.

No. Small projects are actually the ones that succeed best: about 90% of them succeed, against under 10% of large ones, according to the Standish Group (CHAOS Report 2020). An SMB starts with the batch that costs it the most time, and grows the software from there.

Going further.

Prepare your software, before the first line of code.

Three guides: calculate what the software will pay back, migrate your Excel files without losing anything, and check that it applies your rules before going live.

ROI Calculating the ROI of business software A 7-step method, five sources of gains and the mistakes that underestimate payback. Read the guide DATA Migrating from Excel to business software The 7 steps, which history to migrate, how to check the migration and 6 pitfalls to avoid. Read the guide ACCEPTANCE Acceptance testing and go-live for business software Checking that the software does what was agreed, before your teams depend on it. Read the guide

Also on the subject Process automation: the complete 2026 guide for an SMB

Contact.

One brief, one quote, within 24 h.

Describe the project in a few minutes. We come back with an honest first read, a ballpark and the first risks. No PowerPoint, just a clear answer.

StudioRemote · US / EU / Asia, aligned time zones
Emailcontact@ottopilote.com
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