Most companies should buy their ERP, not build it. We built ours. This essay explains why, what it cost us, and how to decide for your own company.
The problem we had
BHD Group works in printing, technology, software platforms and sovereign AI. Our work moves fast: a quote in the morning, approval by WhatsApp at noon, production in the afternoon, delivery the next day. The systems we tried were built for a different kind of business. They were slow to change, weak in Arabic, and did not fit how customers in Oman approve and pay.
We spent more time fighting the software than using it.
What we built
We built BHD-ERP on a standard web stack: Node and Express on the server, MongoDB for data, and React for the screens. It covers quotes, invoices, payments, production, delivery, accounting, HR and payroll. Customers get a portal to approve quotes and pay online. The production team sees every job on one board.
The design rule was: one record for each job, from the first quote to the last payment. No copy and paste between systems.
It became a product
Once the ERP worked for us, other companies asked to use it. Today the same engine runs Paper & Pen, an ERP for other businesses. It also runs Q+, a business system for small companies. Our own business is the first and hardest customer of Paper & Pen and Q+.
What it costs
Building your own ERP is not free and it is never finished:
- Engineers. Someone must own it full time.
- Accounting rules. VAT, journal entries and bank reconciliation must be correct. A bug in money code is expensive.
- Releases. Every change goes to a staging server first, and we check it there before it reaches the live system.
- Distraction. Time spent on the ERP is time not spent on customers.
When to build and when to buy
Build only if all of these are true:
- Your process is a real advantage, and standard software would force you to give it up.
- You can keep engineers on it for years, not months.
- You can sell or reuse it beyond your own company.
If any one is false, buy a good system and change your process to fit it. For most companies, that is the right answer.
For us, all three were true. The ERP now runs our business and earns money as a product. That is the only reason the cost made sense.
Related: What running a print shop in Muscat teaches about business and How AI agents help run a real business in Oman.