Data, Technology & AI · Make it stick
Custom Tools & Applications
Cameo Consulting builds custom operations software: decision-support tools, operational platforms, and field apps shaped to how your business actually runs. When packaged software covers 80 percent of a process and the missing 20 percent costs real money, a purpose-built tool closes the gap. One platform Cameo Consulting built runs a multi-branch landscaping operation with 400+ field users and has been in production for more than 3 years. Fixed scope, working software, and a clear plan for who maintains it after handoff.
Why does off-the-shelf software never quite fit?
Packaged software is built for the average company in your industry, and no company is average. Your quoting logic, your crew structure, your customer requirements sit in the 20 percent the vendor did not build for.
So teams patch the gap. A heroic spreadsheet holds the schedule together. Someone re-keys the same order into two systems. A clipboard rides in the truck. The patches work until the person who built them leaves, or until volume doubles and the duct tape gives out.
When companies call about this
When does custom software make sense?
Four signals show up again and again.
A critical process runs on a heroic spreadsheet
It has 40 tabs, one owner, and no backup plan. If that person takes a two-week vacation, the operation feels it.
Field teams still run on paper
Timesheets, job tickets, and photos travel back to the office by hand, then get typed in again. Every re-key is a delay and an error waiting to happen.
Two systems that don't talk
Your ERP and your payroll, or your TMS and your accounting package, each hold half the truth. Someone spends every Friday reconciling them.
A tool idea nobody internal can build
Operations knows exactly what it needs. IT is booked for the next 18 months, and the idea dies in the backlog.
If two or more of these sound familiar, a scoping conversation is worth 30 minutes.
What does this service include?
The work
- Decision-support tools. Scenario models that compare real options with real numbers: network choices, landed cost, make-versus-buy. Change an assumption, see the dollar impact.
- Operational platforms. Scheduling, work orders, proposals, and job-level labor and profitability tracking in one place instead of five.
- Field and mobile apps. Offline-capable apps for crews: check-in, photos, materials, notes, and automatic time capture that flows to payroll without a clipboard.
- Integrations. Connections to payroll, ERP, and accounting systems so data is entered once and lands everywhere it needs to be.
- Managed support. Optional ongoing hosting, fixes, and small enhancements after launch, so the tool keeps pace as the operation changes.
What do you get?
- Working software in production, not a requirements document.
- The deployed application, documentation, and training for the people who will use and administer it.
- Full ownership of the code and accounts.
- An honest recommendation up front: if a $200-a-month packaged product solves the problem, that is the recommendation, and the engagement ends there.
What results has this produced?
A multi-branch commercial landscaping company scheduled crews on whiteboards and tracked time on paper. Cameo Consulting built a single platform connecting the office (contracts, scheduling, work orders, proposals, job profitability), field crews (an offline mobile app with PIN check-in, job photos, materials, and automatic time and drive tracking), and customers (a portal for approvals and service requests). Time data feeds payroll directly, and telematics show which truck is at which site. The platform has run 400+ field users for more than 3 years in continuous production.
Read the case → Consumer Goods Seasonal Consumer Goods ManufacturerA seasonal consumer goods manufacturer consolidating production into a single plant had to choose among warehousing and 3PL options. Cameo Consulting built a scenario tool in about 30 days for a fixed fee, comparing total landed cost (freight plus warehousing), service levels, and KPIs across each option. Leadership changed assumptions live and made the call on numbers, not instinct.
Read the case →Frequently asked questions
Who maintains the tool after you leave?
You choose, and the choice is real because you own the code from day one. Some clients hand the build to their internal IT team along with the documentation and a recorded walkthrough. Others keep Cameo Consulting on a managed support arrangement covering hosting, fixes, and small improvements. The landscaping platform above has run for more than 3 years under that model.
Build vs buy: how do you decide?
Buy first. If packaged software covers roughly 80 percent of the process and the gaps are cosmetic, configure it and move on. Build when the process is core to how you make money, or when the customization bill on a packaged product starts to rival a custom build. Cameo Consulting has recommended buying more than once, including a maintenance-software selection for a logistics operation with a 1,200-container fleet that ended in a purchase, not a build.
What stack do you build on?
Boring, proven technology. Modern web frameworks, cloud hosting, and standard databases that any competent developer can maintain, not a science project. Integrations run through your systems' standard APIs for payroll, ERP, and accounting. Nothing is locked to Cameo Consulting: the code, the data, and the accounts are yours.
Have a tool in mind, or a spreadsheet on life support?
A 30-minute call is usually enough to tell whether your problem is a build, a buy, or a fix to what you already have. No pitch deck, just a straight answer.
Or write directly: nick@cameoconsulting.net