Ad hoc software: why companies are moving past off-the-shelf

For two decades, "buy off-the-shelf" was the safe default. Building custom meant long timelines, big budgets, and risk. AI changed the math.

What changed

AI now accelerates every stage of building software: understanding a process, designing the solution, writing the code, and integrating it. What used to take a quarter can take days. That makes ad hoc software — built around how your company actually works — viable for companies that could never justify it before.

Off-the-shelf vs ad hoc

Generic SaaS asks your company to adapt to the tool. Ad hoc flips it: the software adapts to you. You stop paying for features you never use, and you stop running parallel spreadsheets to patch what the tool can't do.

Where it pays off

• Processes that are core to your competitive edge.
• Repetitive, costly manual work that leaks hours every week.
• Integrations between systems that "don't integrate."

Not all or nothing

Keep SaaS for commodities (email, accounting). Build ad hoc where your differentiation lives. That's where AI and automation move the needle.

The point isn't fewer people — it's the same team focused on what matters, with software that's genuinely yours.