You Probably Don't Need a Custom Business Simulation
A talent development lead at a large financial services firm emailed me a few years ago. Good note. She knew her audience, she had a rollout window, and she wanted a custom simulation aligned with their leadership model. It was, by any normal measure, a great inquiry.
The first thing I wrote back, before the pleasantries were fully out of the way, was that she'd have to convince me she really needed a custom build. I'm a fan of keeping it simple and focused, that off-the-shelf often does more than people expect, and that we could absolutely do the custom work but that I just needed to see a real need, because she could probably save an enormous amount of money with an adjusted off-the-shelf or tailored solution.
That's a strange thing to lead with when somebody is trying to hand you a large check but it’s the right thing to do.
So, disclosure. Custom builds are the most expensive thing I sell, and I like doing them. Writing the model, arguing about the decisions that matter, watching a room of executives realize the thing on the screen is actually their business — that's the most fun work I know. This post argues against my own biggest line item. I'd rather tell you the truth about it than sell you one you don't need, partly because it's the right thing to do and partly because the ones I sell to people who don't need them come back to bite both of us.
Here's the whole argument in one sentence: most people who think they need custom need something tailorable, and the gap between those two words is on the order of $500K. Article with detailed information on business simulation pricing: What a Business Simulation Actually Costs.
Three things, and only one of them is expensive
The word "custom" gets used for three different products, which is most of the problem. Here’s a summary:
| Option | Core Model | Cost & Ramp-Up | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off-The-Shelf Business Simulation | Prebuilt static math | Lowest cost, instant rollout | Foundational classroom learning |
| Tailored Business Simulation | Proven engine flexed to your company metrics | Mid-range cost (~$150K+) | Enterprise leadership development |
| Custom Business Simulation | Written from scratch (new math) | Highest cost (~$350K+), long lead time | Genuinely brand-new business models |
You may be told otherwise
Many will say, “custom business simulation” and may tell you that you “need” a custom solution when you just don't.
I want to be fair here, because it isn't villainy. It's arithmetic and habit. Custom is a bigger contract, a longer engagement, more design hours, and a much deeper set of hooks into the account. The people selling it are usually good at their jobs and pleasant to work with, and they've watched custom sims land beautifully, because they do usually land beautifully. When a custom build works, it works well (but so do the others). Participants know it's about their actual jobs and they bring a different level of seriousness to the room. The reality is, it's a) likely tailored anyway and b) people can’t feel the math.
They're not wrong about the ceiling. They're wrong about how often you need to reach for it.
Custom can get in the way of the learning
This is the part people don't expect, so let me be specific about the mechanisms.
1) Objectives multiply. A custom project attracts objectives the way a wedding attracts opinions. Every executive who reviews the design adds one, because it's theirs now, and nobody wants to tell a sponsor no. Every objective past three multiplies the model underneath. You wind up with a simulation that's radically out of control and a program that tries to boil the ocean in a day or two. A tailored build has a spine you can point at: the engine only does what the engine does, and that constraint is doing you a big favor.
2) Realism invites arguments about realism. The closer the model gets to their real business, the more the room wants to litigate whether it's right. That's not a bug in the build, it's what happens when you hand experts a replica of their own world. Time that should go to practicing a decision goes to debating whether the numbers behind the decision are accurate. This is why I often recommend building a simulation of a similar, but not exact, business to your own.
3) You don't buy a custom simulation, you adopt one. The invoice is the beginning. There's the second cohort that needs a variant. There are the change requests, which are never as small as they sound. Changes are requested which is like adding barnacles to a ship that cannot hold the weight. It was built for rigidity, not flexibility. This becomes an expensive challenge.
There's one more risk, and I wrote about it at length in another article, so I'll just say the short version here: the bigger and more custom the engagement, the more likely the provider drifts up and away from you toward the "decision makers," and the less it looks like your program six months in. This risks you losing control of the whole program. Read the full article here: How to Choose a Business Simulation Provider.
When custom actually is the answer
I do cave, and here's when.
If the goal of the program is to teach a genuinely brand new business. A model the company hasn't run before, where the specific decisions have to be the real ones because the point is learning that particular set of tradeoffs and specific decisions.Then off-the-shelf and tailored can both fall short, and you should build it.
Even then, I'll go toe to toe with a sponsor about whether it's really needed. And the test I'd apply is small: write down, on one page, the decisions that have to be real. Not the topics. The decisions. If you can't fill the page, you don't have a custom problem, you have a content problem, and a custom simulation is a very expensive way to discover that.
What to do instead
Most internal T&D managers can own this themselves. The trick is three things.
A very focused simulation. Focused beats elaborate, every time.
Built on proven technology. A platform where the balancing model already exists and flexes around your topic, rather than getting rewritten for you from scratch.
Three prime, measurable objectives. Three. If you have seven, you don't have objectives, you have a wish list, and the simulation will grow to fill the space where your objectives should be.
And I'll say the unglamorous thing one more time: in a lot of cases, a well-designed paper-based simulation works magic. Not glitzy or glammy. Just engaging, challenging, effective, and roughly free to run forever. A decent provider will either help you build one or build it with you and hand it over. If yours won't, that tells you something.
If you’re at the stage of looking for a provider, have a look at the article titled: How to Choose a Business Simulation Provider
Net net
If you come to me wanting custom, you'll have to convince me. That's not a negotiating posture. It's that I've watched enough of these to know which ones people thank me for later, and it's almost never the expensive one.
Keep it focused. Don't boil the ocean. And make somebody prove to you that the math has to be new.