Our perspective on advantages and disadvantages for both approaches.

As operations grow, many large-scale locker operators are currently reassessing their future software strategy. The question of whether to continue with SaaS solutions or develop proprietary software becomes increasingly important.

SaaS advantages:

✅ You can concentrate on core operations, software is handled externally.
✅ You can deploy locker networks quickly without extended development timelines.
✅ You can budget with confidence through subscription-based pricing models.
✅ You gain access to innovations developed for the entire customer base.
✅ Security updates, testing and compliance are managed by the provider.
✅ Eliminate the need for server management or cloud service oversight.

SaaS considerations:

⚠️ License fees can increase substantially if not capped, as your locker base expands.
⚠️ Features on SaaS vendors side can be prioritized based on broader market needs, not your local market or company specific ones.
⚠️ Features that are your competitive advantage can be implemented to the platform and potentially be used by your competitor.

Proprietary software advantages:

✅ Maintain full control over your technology ecosystem and data.
✅ System is designed specifically for your operational workflows.
✅ You can develop unique capabilities that create competitive separation.
✅ While requiring greater initial investment, can prove more economical at scale.

Proprietary software considerations:

⚠️ Significant upfront development investment.
⚠️ Development can go significantly over budget, if the partner or in-house team has not built a similar solution before.
⚠️ Dedicated resources needed for maintenance and evolution.
⚠️ Potential vulnerabilities if key technical personnel depart.
⚠️ Additional requirements for hosting, security and support infrastructure.

What can we recommend from our experience?

In our experience working with parcel locker operators across various growth stages, we’ve found that the optimal approach often depends on specific business circumstances, current size of network, available resources, strategic priorities and future goals.

Companies want to partner up with vendors, who have a successful track record.

CollabNet has experience in creating both SaaS and proprietary software solutions for European Out of Home networks and our experts can recommend the best approach through our experience and consultation.

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