Diagnosis
When a Generic SaaS Platform Becomes the Bottleneck Itself
Off-the-shelf software is usually fine. This is about the exception.
Off-the-shelf is the right default
Most businesses shouldn't build custom software, and a generic platform is genuinely the cheaper, faster, lower-risk choice in most situations. This isn't an argument against that default — it's about recognizing the specific point where it stops applying.
The tell: workarounds that fight the platform's own design
A platform becomes the bottleneck itself when the business has built a growing set of manual workarounds specifically to compensate for something the platform structurally can't do — not a missing feature that might get added, but a design assumption baked into how the platform works. At that point, every workaround is a small tax paid on every transaction, indefinitely, and the platform that was supposed to save time is quietly costing more than it's saving.
Have a specific operation in mind?
This is general analysis. Confirming what's actually true for your business is what a Discovery Engagement is for.