Your ERP, your code.
When we build your ERP, it is yours: once the build is paid in full, the source code passes to you, with the database and the documents that explain it. You pay for the build, never per user, and the system stays yours whether or not you keep working with us.
What you get when it goes live
- 01
The source code
Every line we wrote for you
Yours once the build is paid in full. Kept in a code repository you control, or in ours with access for you; either way works.
- 02
The database
Your data, in a standard database
Microsoft SQL Server, which you can open, back up and report from with tools your team may already use.
- 03
The documents
How it is built and how to run it
How the screens, data and rules fit together, and how to install and update it, so another team can follow it.
- 04
Hosting
On your server or ours
Run it on your own server or cloud account, or let us host it and look after it. You choose, and you can change your mind later.
- 05
No licence to renew
No fee per user, no switch-off date
Add people, branches and companies without a bill that grows with them.
Renting software or owning it
- Ready-made software
- You rent it
- You pay
- A fee for every user, every month or year
- When your team grows
- The bill grows with every new user
- Changing how it works
- Limited to what the product allows, often at extra cost
- When prices rise
- You pay the new price or move
- If you stop paying
- Access ends; you export what you can
- Your ERP, built by Helmsman
- You own it
- You pay
- Once for the build, in parts
- When your team grows
- Nothing changes
- Changing how it works
- It is built around your way of working
- When prices rise
- No licence, so no price rise
- If you stop paying
- The code and your data stay yours
Who owns the source code of custom software?
Whoever the written agreement says. In India and many other countries, the company that writes the code owns it unless a signed agreement hands it to the client, so paying for the work is not enough on its own.
Ask for it in writing before the build starts. Our agreement hands the code to you once the build is paid in full, and we sign an NDA on every project.
What is vendor lock-in, and how do you avoid it?
Lock-in is when leaving a supplier costs more than staying, because they hold your system, your data or the only people who understand it. You avoid it with five things, agreed before the build:
- The source code, handed to you once the build is paid.
- A standard database you can open without the supplier.
- Documents that explain how the system works.
- Hosting you are free to move, on your own server or anyone else's.
- No licence that can be switched off.
Can another developer take over our ERP later?
Yes. Our ERPs are built on Microsoft .NET and SQL Server, which are widely used and taught, and you hold the code and the documents. Another team can read them, run the system and carry on from where we stopped.
We would rather keep you through good work than through a lock.
If we own the code, why pay for support?
Support keeps the system healthy after go-live: fixes, small changes, updates and someone who already knows your system when something needs attention. It is a fixed yearly fee of 15 to 20% of the build, so on a $3,000 module it is $450 to $600 a year, however many people use it.
Because the code is yours, support is a choice you can review every year, not a condition of using the software.
Does owning an ERP cost more than renting one?
Not over time. Renting has the lower first bill. Owning has no bill that grows with your team: a single module starts at $3,000, adding users is free, and support, if you want it, is a fixed share of the build.
Bigger systems are built in parts. You agree the price of each part before it starts and pay for one working part at a time, never the whole system up front.
- A single module
- From $3,000
- Bigger systems
- Built and paid one working part at a time
- Adding users
- Free
- Support after go-live, if you want it
- 15 to 20% of the build a year
Every price is agreed in writing after we have studied how your business runs.
From quotation to dispatch, on one record
An industrial filter manufacturer in India: sales, production routes, stores, dispatch and accounts in one ERP, replacing an older system.
Every repair, from counter to collection
A mobile-repair chain in Southern Africa: job cards, technicians, parts, branches and accounts in one ERP.
Attendance in, payslips out
An HRMS for a multi-company group in India: biometric attendance, leave, payroll, loans and roles in one system.
Owning your ERP, answered.
Do we get the source code of our ERP?
Yes. Once the build is paid in full, the source code is yours, with the database and the documents. The agreement says so.
Do we pay per user?
No. You pay once for the build and, if you want it, a fixed yearly fee for support. Adding users, branches or companies does not change it.
What happens if we stop working with Helmsman?
You keep the code, your data and the documents. You can run the system yourself or hand it to another team, on your own server or any cloud.
Can you host our ERP for us?
Yes. We can host and look after it, or set it up on your own server or cloud account. Either way, the code is yours once the build is paid.
Can you keep changing it after we own it?
Yes. Small changes are part of support, if you choose it, and new parts are priced and agreed in writing when you need them.
How much does a custom ERP cost?
A single module starts at $3,000. Bigger systems are built and paid one working part at a time, and every price is agreed in writing before work starts.
See all prices · Weighing a product? Compare a custom ERP with Tally, Zoho, Odoo, SAP, NetSuite or QuickBooks · Custom or ready-made software: how to decide