Free Custom Programming for Life!
By David J. Saxton, President, The Computer Manager
Well, not really, but sort of. Let me explain. But before I do, I want to share my history of custom programming with you. If you remember from my article about acquiring The Computer Manager, I've been requesting custom programming since day one. Actually, since before day one. Back in 1993, before I even decided to purchase Debt$Net, I had Tony customize my client activity report to show my collector notes. And the customizations never stopped.
For this article, I want to both share my process for determining how much you might make or save from a customization and tell you about our new customization pay-as-you-go model that lets you receive custom programming for virtually nothing.
Going back to the early days, after becoming a Debt$Net user, I was significantly involved in the user conferences. Along with other Debt$Net users, I provided feedback for features that eventually made it into the standard product. What may be surprising is that I have never stopped customizing my version of Debt$Net. Based on my calculations, I've spent over $500,000 on custom programming over the past 32 years. After looking up a list the other day, I found 84 distinct customizations. However, that's not a current list—the number is actually well over 100.
The efficiencies my customs have provided to my agency are significant. Not only that, but I have made or saved, on an average yearly basis, a multiple of 3 to 4 times on these investments. In addition, if I project the investment and return over ten years for a given custom, some of the features have saved me well over $100,000 each. My investments in custom programming are vital to the profitability and overall success of my company. I want to share the process I use to determine how much I will make or save once a custom is in place. I'm going to do this by using an example of a current customer who is considering a customization. We are currently working with a law firm user who is considering having us write a custom interface with a company that provides electronic filing of court pleadings. You may have heard of the company; it's called GreenFiling. (Green Filing an e-Filing Service Provider.)
When I met with the owner of the law firm, we identified that he is currently spending around $2,000 a month on labor, supplies, and other miscellaneous expenses to have the documents manually prepared and filed with the courts. We then identified that GreenFiling will charge him about $800 per month to receive and process data from Debt$Net so they can produce and file electronic pleadings. Switching to electronic filing will save him $1,200 a month.
$1,200 a month is $14,400 a year. Over ten years, the savings will equal $144,000. I didn't tell the law firm's owner this, but $144,000 will buy you a very nice Porsche. Though I'm sure he already knows that. Now that we’ve covered how much he can save, what is it going to cost him to realize these savings? Roughly, $7,500 in custom programming fees. Now, here's the part where we make the investment virtually free. First, we are changing our model and will no longer require payment for custom programming up front. You don't pay us anything until we deliver the finished product and you've confirmed that it's working precisely as needed. (And if tweaks are necessary during the first 30 days of using the customization, those are included in the original price.)
Then, since we have already calculated how much you will be saving, you agree to pay us that amount each month until the customization is paid for. For this example, once the law firm has customization in place and is saving $1,200 a month, the law firm starts paying us $1,200 a month until the $7,500 is paid. This works out to be six payments of $1,200 and one payment of $300. Then, after that, they save $1,200 a month, every month, forever. Since they would be paying $1,200 a month anyway, paying it for the customization for 6.25 months is a wash. That's why it's virtually free.
This will be our model moving forward for all customization requests. We will work with you to first determine how much you are currently paying for the process or procedure, including hard costs and labor costs. Then, once we know how much you will be saving each month and the price to deliver the custom, we will set you up on a payment plan that matches your savings for as long as it takes to pay for the custom.
This type of analysis is what I’ve been doing for my all of my customizations, and it’s why I’ve been willing to pay so much over the years. I've saved a TON of money because of these enhancements. And that's precisely what we want to help every user do. Improve and enhance the software to reduce expenses and labor costs and increase your profit margin.
One last real-world example. About five years ago, I had 80 full-time employees. I was excited about this growth and looking forward to reaching what I considered a milestone: 100 employees. However, I also decided to double down on streamlining and customizing every single process and procedure I could. I was taking it to the next level. It's what I've spent most of my time on over the last five years, and it's really paid off. We currently have 55 full-time employees, and the previous six months of 2025, July, August, September, October, and November, have been the best July, August, September, October, and November in the 32-year history of the company. (And we haven't on-boarded a significant client for over five years.)
The primary reason our employee count is down while revenues are at record levels is the custom programming and streamlining of processes and procedures over the past five years. This is my vision for Debt$Net: to reduce an agency’s expenses while simultaneously increasing its revenue. That's the goal of everyone on the Debt$Net team. It's why we are here. We are all very excited about what we've done so far and what's to come. Thanks for reading. Have a great month! Dave.