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- With software letting us down, should firms keep buying - or build - a practice management system?
With software letting us down, should firms keep buying - or build - a practice management system?
flinder’s custom practice management tech stack was a key factor in the firm reaching multi-million-pound revenue. So when is it the right time to buy a practice management solution and when are you better off building?
Alastair Barlow
September 27, 2025
Practice management solutions leave a lot to be desired. Many firms are using subpar software platforms that do a bit of what they (believe they) need, but aren’t fit for purpose.
It’s not surprising, then, that many firm leaders think, or know, that their practice management could be better. Off-the-shelf database tools with powerful reporting, customer insights, and metrics simply don’t exist in the world of accounting today. And spreadsheets - while they are being used - are not the right solution for scale.
That leaves us with a decision: to buy or build.
Should firms base their practice management workflows on the tools available in the market, or think about the best possible approach for their firm and then build, or architect, a custom solution?
At flinder, we did the latter. From day one, we asked ourselves:
What do we want to report on?
Then, with Airtable as our core data repository, we integrated a set of best-of-breed solutions to fit our unique needs.