Building leasing software vs buying it
Leasing and packaging providers with in-house development capability regularly consider building their own administration platform. Catch-e is on one side of that decision, so treat this accordingly — but the arguments below are the ones that actually decide it, and some of them favour building.
What you would be replacing if you built it yourself
| Capability | Catch-e |
|---|---|
| Novated leasing administration | YesFull lifecycle: quote, contract, budgets, deductions, claims, FBT, exits |
| Salary packaging administrationBenefit catalogues, FBT caps and payroll-aligned deductions, not just vehicles. | YesBenefit catalogue, cap governance, claims, cards, year-end reporting |
| Australian FBT complianceStatutory and operating-cost methods, ECM, the $15,900 and $30,000 grossed-up caps, PBI and rebatable treatment. | YesBoth methods, ECM to nil, cap categories, employee declarations, year-end reporting |
| Multi-employer administrationRunning many employers, each with their own packaging rules and payroll, from one system. | YesPer-employer rules, payroll configs and reporting |
| ISO/IEC 27001 certificationAn independently audited information security management system. | YesISO/IEC 27001:2022, certificate 1833-I-1, held over ten years, audited three times a year |
| Implementation modelWho does the work, and how long before the program is live. | YesDirect, by the Catch-e team; existing book migrated in |
When the other option is the better fit
No platform is right for every operation. These are the cases where we would tell you to look elsewhere.
Building wins when the process is your product
If your commercial advantage is a way of working that no platform supports and you do not want competitors buying the same tool, building protects that. This is a real argument and it is not rare.
Building wins when you already run a software team
If you employ engineers, a product manager and someone accountable for security, the marginal cost of another system is genuinely lower for you than for a provider who would be hiring that team from scratch.
Who each option suits
The part that is easy to underestimate is not the build
Quoting, contracts and deductions are tractable. What accumulates is everything downstream: FBT method changes, cap thresholds moving, payroll formats changing, banking file standards, the ATO’s reporting requirements, and every edge case an employee creates by resigning at an awkward moment. That work never finishes.
Security certification is a standing cost, not a project
Holding payroll data and moving funds invites customer security review. An ISO/IEC 27001 certification means an audited management system, recertification on a cycle, and someone whose job it is — not a document you write once.
A reasonable middle path
Buy the administration platform and build the thing that is actually yours on top of it — your pricing, your portal, your broker workflow — against the platform’s APIs. That keeps engineering effort on your differentiator rather than on FBT arithmetic.
Want to see it against your own numbers?
The fastest way to compare platforms is with your own portfolio, employers and payroll in front of you. We will walk through it with you.
Powered by 150+ years of combined industry experience.
See the products
Five products covering the full operational surface of leasing and packaging programs.
Explore productsConnect your systems
Payroll, banking, accounting, servicing and FBT, integrated with what you already run.
Integration options