Develop Custom ITSM Software Like Cherwell: Get Features & Cost
Tired of rigid, expensive ITSM platforms and post-acquisition uncertainty? We build flexible, AI-powered enterprise service management solutions tailored to your exact workflows, giving you full control and a superior TCO.
Plan Your Custom ITSM Platform
From Rigid to Resilient: The Case for a Custom ITSM Solution
The enterprise service management landscape is shifting. With Cherwell's future under Ivanti causing uncertainty and platforms like ServiceNow demanding premium license fees, many organizations are trapped between a rock and a hard place. A custom-built ITSM/ESM platform isn't just a replacement; it's a strategic upgrade. It allows you to build precisely the workflows you need, integrate AI where it matters most, and escape the endless cycle of vendor-dictated roadmaps and escalating costs. You gain a competitive asset that evolves with your business, not a recurring expense that holds you back.
Why Build Your Cherwell Alternative with CIS?
We don't just write code. We architect enterprise-grade solutions that solve complex operational challenges. With over two decades of experience, a CMMI Level 5 certified process, and a team of 1000+ in-house experts, we mitigate the risks of custom development and deliver predictable, high-value outcomes.
Predictable TCO
Escape unpredictable license renewals and expensive customization fees. Our fixed-cost pricing model provides budget certainty and a significantly lower Total Cost of Ownership over 3-5 years.
AI-Powered Automation
Move beyond basic ticketing. We embed AI and ML to enable predictive incident management, intelligent ticket routing, and automated resolutions, freeing up your team for strategic work.
Full IP & Data Ownership
Your platform, your rules. You own the intellectual property and control your data, eliminating vendor lock-in and ensuring your most critical operational tool remains a strategic asset.
Enterprise-Grade Security
Your ITSM system is critical. We build on a foundation of security, adhering to SOC 2 and ISO 27001 standards to ensure your platform is robust, compliant, and secure from day one.
Rapid MVP Delivery
Get value in weeks, not years. Our agile POD model focuses on delivering a functional Minimum Viable Product (MVP) quickly, allowing you to iterate based on real user feedback.
Tailored, Flexible Workflows
Stop forcing your processes into a pre-built box. We design and build workflows that mirror your unique business operations, improving adoption and efficiency across departments.
CMMI Level 5 Process Maturity
Our processes are independently verified at the highest level of maturity, ensuring quality, predictability, and continuous optimization throughout the development lifecycle.
Seamless Integration
An ITSM platform can't live in a silo. We specialize in complex integrations with your existing ecosystem, from ERPs and CRMs to monitoring tools and communication platforms like Slack or Teams.
100% In-House Experts
We guarantee quality and accountability with a dedicated team of 1000+ full-time employees. No freelancers, no contractors—just a cohesive unit focused on your success.
Core Features of Your Custom ITSM Platform
We build modular, scalable ITSM and ESM solutions. Select the core components you need for your MVP and add advanced capabilities as you grow. Our architecture is designed for evolution.
AI-Powered Service Desk
This is the intelligent core of your service operations. We go beyond simple ticketing to create a proactive service desk that uses AI to classify, prioritize, and even resolve issues automatically. It's about reducing manual effort and improving the user experience for both employees and customers.
Key Outcomes:
- Intelligent Ticket Routing: Automatically assign tickets to the right team based on content and historical data, reducing manual triage time.
- AI-Suggested Resolutions: Empower agents with AI-driven suggestions from the knowledge base, speeding up resolution times.
- Sentiment Analysis: Gauge user frustration from ticket language to prioritize critical issues and manage escalations proactively.
Incident & Problem Management
Build a robust system to restore service quickly and prevent future issues. Our custom modules link incidents to underlying problems, helping you move from a reactive "firefighting" mode to a proactive, preventative strategy that improves system stability and reliability.
Key Outcomes:
- Automated Escalation Rules: Define clear, automated rules for escalating high-priority incidents to ensure rapid response.
- Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Tracking: Systematically track problem investigations and link them to incidents for a complete audit trail.
- Major Incident Management: Implement dedicated workflows and communication channels for handling critical, business-impacting outages.
Change & Release Management
Minimize the risk associated with changes to your IT environment. We build structured, approval-based workflows that provide visibility and control over your change lifecycle, from request to deployment, ensuring that updates don't cause unexpected disruptions.
Key Outcomes:
- Customizable Approval Chains: Design multi-stage approval workflows that match your organization's governance and compliance needs.
- Change Advisory Board (CAB) Automation: Automate the scheduling and documentation for CAB meetings, simplifying the review process.
- Conflict Detection: Automatically flag potential conflicts between scheduled changes to prevent overlapping work and outages.
Service Catalog & Request Fulfillment
Create a user-friendly, "app store" experience for your internal services. A well-designed service catalog simplifies how employees request everything from new hardware to software access, automating the fulfillment process on the backend for maximum efficiency.
Key Outcomes:
- User-Friendly Portal: Design an intuitive, consumer-like interface that makes it easy for users to find and request services.
- Automated Fulfillment Workflows: Trigger automated tasks, approvals, and provisioning actions as soon as a request is submitted.
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) Tracking: Define and monitor SLAs for each service offering to ensure timely delivery and measure performance.
Asset Management (ITAM)
Gain complete visibility and control over your hardware and software assets throughout their lifecycle. Our ITAM modules integrate with your CMDB to track assets, manage licenses, and optimize costs, ensuring you know what you have, where it is, and how it's being used.
Key Outcomes:
- Automated Asset Discovery: Integrate with network scanning tools to automatically discover and populate your asset inventory.
- Software License Compliance: Track software installations against purchased licenses to avoid compliance issues and reduce unnecessary spending.
- Lifecycle Management: Manage the entire asset lifecycle from procurement and deployment to retirement and disposal.
Custom Workflow Automation Engine
This is the heart of a truly flexible ESM platform. We build a powerful, visual workflow designer that allows your team to automate processes not just in IT, but across HR, Facilities, Finance, and more, without writing a single line of code. This is how you scale service management across the enterprise.
Key Outcomes:
- Drag-and-Drop Interface: Empower process owners to build and modify workflows with an intuitive visual editor.
- Cross-Departmental Automation: Automate complex processes like employee onboarding, which involves tasks across IT, HR, and Facilities.
- Conditional Logic & Branching: Create sophisticated workflows that can handle complex decision-making based on form inputs or system data.
Advanced Reporting & Analytics Dashboards
Turn your operational data into actionable insights. We develop custom dashboards and reporting modules that give you a real-time view of your service performance, helping you identify bottlenecks, track KPIs, and demonstrate the value of your IT services to the business.
Key Outcomes:
- Role-Based Dashboards: Create tailored views for technicians, managers, and executives, showing the metrics that matter most to them.
- Trend Analysis: Identify recurring incidents and service request patterns to inform problem management and service improvements.
- Scheduled & On-Demand Reporting: Automatically generate and distribute performance reports to stakeholders on a regular schedule.
Third-Party API Integration
Your ITSM platform should be the central hub of your IT operations. We build robust, scalable integrations with the tools your team already uses, creating a seamless flow of information and automating actions across your entire technology stack.
Key Outcomes:
- DevOps Toolchain Integration: Connect with tools like Jira, Azure DevOps, and GitHub to sync development and operational workflows.
- Communication Platform Integration: Enable ticket creation and notifications directly within Slack or Microsoft Teams.
- Identity & Access Management: Integrate with Azure Active Directory or Okta for streamlined user provisioning and authentication.
Technology Stack for Modern ITSM Platforms
We build robust, scalable, and secure ITSM solutions using a modern, enterprise-ready technology stack. Our architectural choices prioritize flexibility, performance, and ease of integration.
Proven Success in Enterprise Service Management
We've helped organizations across various industries transform their service delivery operations. Explore how we've tackled challenges similar to yours and delivered measurable results.
Manufacturing Co. Modernizes ITSM Post-Acquisition
Client: A mid-sized industrial manufacturing company with 5,000+ employees.
The Challenge
The client was a long-time Cherwell user. Following the Ivanti acquisition, they faced uncertainty about the product's roadmap, support quality, and future licensing costs. Their existing platform was heavily customized but difficult to upgrade, and they needed to integrate ITAM more deeply with their operational technology (OT) systems on the factory floor.
Our Solution
CIS was engaged to architect and build a modern, custom ITSM platform to replace Cherwell. We executed a phased approach:
- Phase 1 (Discovery & MVP): We mapped all existing Cherwell workflows and developed an MVP focusing on core Incident, Problem, and Change management modules using .NET Core and Angular.
- Phase 2 (Data Migration & ITAM): We built a custom data migration tool to securely transfer 7 years of ticket history. A new ITAM module was developed with custom connectors for their OT monitoring systems.
- Phase 3 (ESM & Automation): We extended the platform with a self-service portal and automated workflows for Facilities and HR, creating a true Enterprise Service Management solution.
University Unifies Campus Services with ESM
Client: A private university with over 15,000 students and 2,000 faculty members.
The Challenge
The university was using three separate, siloed systems for IT support, facilities maintenance requests, and HR inquiries. This created a confusing experience for students and staff, lacked any unified reporting, and led to significant process inefficiencies and delays. They needed a single platform to manage all campus service requests.
Our Solution
We proposed and built a unified Enterprise Service Management (ESM) platform from the ground up, designed around a central service catalog.
- Unified Service Portal: We created a single, mobile-friendly portal where students and faculty could request any service, from reporting a broken projector to asking a payroll question.
- Role-Based Workflows: We designed distinct backend workflows and interfaces for the IT, Facilities, and HR departments, ensuring each team had the tools they needed to manage their specific tasks.
- Automated Onboarding: The new student and faculty onboarding process was fully automated, creating accounts, assigning resources, and scheduling orientations through a single request form.
- Integrated Knowledge Base: A unified knowledge base was created with articles for all three departments, empowering users to find answers themselves.
FinTech Startup Builds a Scalable, Compliant Service Desk
Client: A fast-growing FinTech startup providing payment processing solutions.
The Challenge
As a FinTech company, the startup needed an ITSM solution that could scale rapidly while meeting strict security and compliance requirements (like SOC 2 and PCI DSS). Off-the-shelf solutions were either too expensive or lacked the specific compliance controls and audit trails they needed. They required a solution that was both agile and auditable.
Our Solution
We built a lean, secure, and highly scalable ITSM MVP on AWS serverless architecture.
- Security-First Design: The entire platform was designed with compliance in mind, featuring strict access controls, end-to-end data encryption, and immutable audit logs for every action.
- Serverless Architecture: Using AWS Lambda and DynamoDB, we created a solution that could scale automatically to handle fluctuating ticket volumes without manual intervention or over-provisioning.
- Automated Evidence Generation: We built custom workflows that automatically generated the evidence required for their SOC 2 audits, dramatically reducing the manual effort for their compliance team.
- Integration with Monitoring Tools: The platform was tightly integrated with their application performance monitoring (APM) tools, automatically creating incidents from system alerts.
Our Agile & Transparent Development Process
We follow a proven, six-step process that ensures alignment, transparency, and high-quality delivery from concept to launch and beyond.
1. Discovery & Strategy
We start by deeply understanding your business processes, pain points, and strategic goals. We conduct workshops with your stakeholders to map existing workflows and define the core requirements for your custom ITSM platform.
2. Architecture & Prototyping
Our solution architects design a scalable, secure, and future-proof architecture. We create interactive wireframes and prototypes, allowing you to see and feel the user experience before we write a single line of code.
3. Agile Development Sprints
Your project is broken down into two-week sprints. Our dedicated POD works on a prioritized backlog, delivering functional software at the end of each sprint. You get regular demos and opportunities to provide feedback.
4. Rigorous Quality Assurance
Quality is embedded in every stage. Our QA engineers perform continuous testing, including functional, performance, and security testing, to ensure the platform is robust, reliable, and bug-free.
5. Deployment & Data Migration
We manage the entire deployment process to your cloud environment (AWS, Azure, etc.). If you're migrating from an existing system like Cherwell, we execute a carefully planned data migration strategy to ensure a seamless transition.
6. Ongoing Support & Evolution
Our partnership doesn't end at launch. We offer comprehensive support and maintenance plans to keep your platform running smoothly. We also work with you to plan and develop new features and enhancements as your business evolves.
Understanding the Cost to Build a Cherwell-like Platform
The cost of a custom ITSM solution is not a one-size-fits-all number. It depends on the complexity, features, and scale you require. Below is a breakdown of the key factors that influence the final investment and a comparison against leading off-the-shelf products.
Key Cost Drivers
| Factor | Description | Impact on Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Modules | The scope of your platform (e.g., just Incident Management vs. a full suite with ITAM, CMDB, and Change Management). | High |
| Workflow Complexity | The intricacy of your business rules, approval chains, and automation logic. More complex, multi-stage workflows require more development effort. | High |
| AI & ML Features | Implementing features like predictive analytics, intelligent routing, or NLP-powered chatbots adds complexity and cost but delivers significant ROI. | Medium to High |
| Number of Integrations | Each third-party system (Jira, Slack, Azure AD, ERPs) that needs to be integrated requires custom API development and testing. | Medium |
| Compliance Requirements | Building for specific compliance standards like HIPAA, SOC 2, or FedRAMP requires additional security controls, documentation, and testing. | Medium |
| Data Migration | The volume and complexity of migrating data from a legacy system can significantly impact the project timeline and cost. | Low to Medium |
Custom Build vs. Off-the-Shelf (3-Year TCO)
| Feature / Aspect | Custom Solution (CIS) | Cherwell (Ivanti) | ServiceNow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Cost | Upfront Development Cost ($75k - $300k+) | Moderate Implementation Fees | High Implementation Fees |
| Recurring Cost | Low (Hosting & Support) | High (Per-user/per-year licenses) | Very High (Per-user/per-year licenses) |
| Customization | Unlimited & Built-in | Possible, but can be complex/costly | Limited & Very Expensive |
| Flexibility & Agility | High (Evolves with your business) | Moderate (Tied to vendor roadmap) | Low (Rigid platform structure) |
| Vendor Lock-in | None (You own the IP) | High | Very High |
| AI Capabilities | Custom-built for your specific use cases | Add-on modules, generic features | Add-on modules, expensive AI packs |
| Best For | Orgs needing tailored workflows, long-term TCO savings, and strategic control. | Existing customers comfortable with the Ivanti ecosystem. | Large enterprises with standard processes and very large budgets. |
Flexible Engagement Models for Your Project
We offer a range of engagement models designed to provide the flexibility, control, and value your organization needs. We'll work with you to select the model that best aligns with your project goals, budget, and internal resources.
Dedicated Development PODs
Get a hand-picked, cross-functional team of experts dedicated exclusively to your project. This model offers maximum flexibility, transparency, and control, making it ideal for complex, long-term projects with evolving requirements.
- Full-time, dedicated experts
- Complete control over project backlog
- Agile, iterative development
- Ideal for complex, evolving projects
Fixed-Cost, Fixed-Scope Projects
For projects with clearly defined requirements and a stable scope, we offer a fixed-cost model. We provide a detailed proposal outlining the exact deliverables, timeline, and a single, predictable price, eliminating financial uncertainty.
- Clear scope and defined deliverables
- Predictable budget and timeline
- Milestone-based payments
- Ideal for MVPs and well-defined modules
Time & Materials (T&M)
When project requirements are fluid or you need to augment your existing team with specialized skills, our T&M model provides the ultimate flexibility. You pay for the hours worked, allowing you to scale the team up or down as needed.
- Maximum flexibility to change scope
- Pay-as-you-go for hours consumed
- Ideal for R&D and staff augmentation
- Transparent hourly/monthly billing
Meet Your ITSM Development Experts
Your project will be guided by seasoned architects and managers who specialize in building complex, enterprise-grade software solutions. This is a sample of the leadership team that ensures your project's success.
What Our Clients Say
We pride ourselves on building long-term partnerships and delivering solutions that drive real business value. Here's what leaders from organizations like yours have to say about working with CIS.
"The custom ITSM platform CIS built for us was a game-changer. It's more intuitive than Cherwell and gives us the flexibility to adapt to our unique factory floor processes. The entire project was managed flawlessly, on time and on budget."
"We were struggling with multiple disconnected systems. CIS delivered a unified ESM platform that streamlined services for our entire campus. Their understanding of the complexities of a university environment was impressive."
"Security and compliance were non-negotiable for us. The CIS team built a service desk that not only met but exceeded our stringent SOC 2 requirements. Their expertise in secure software development gave us complete peace of mind."
"Migrating from a legacy system was a daunting task, but the CIS team handled the data migration seamlessly. The new platform's reporting capabilities give us insights we never had before, allowing us to proactively manage our IT services."
"The ability to create custom workflows without code has been revolutionary. Our IT team can now automate routine tasks in hours, not weeks. The platform has significantly improved our team's efficiency and morale."
"We chose CIS because we needed a partner, not just a vendor. Their agile process and transparent communication were excellent. The final product is a testament to their technical skill and commitment to understanding our business."
Frequently Asked Questions
The timeline varies based on complexity. A core MVP with Incident and Service Request Management can often be delivered in 12-16 weeks. A full-featured ESM platform with multiple modules and complex integrations can take 6-9 months or more. We prioritize a phased approach to deliver value quickly.
The initial investment for a custom build is higher than the first-year subscription for an off-the-shelf product. However, when you factor in recurring license fees, customization costs, and per-user charges over 3-5 years, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for a custom solution is almost always significantly lower. You pay once to build the asset, then only for hosting and optional support.
We have a proven, four-step data migration process: 1) Data Analysis and Mapping, where we map fields from your old system to the new one. 2) Script Development, where we build custom scripts to extract, transform, and load (ETL) the data. 3) Test Migration, where we perform a full migration to a staging environment for your validation. 4) Final Cutover, which is scheduled during a low-impact window to ensure a seamless transition.
Absolutely. This is a core advantage of our approach. We design the platform with an Enterprise Service Management (ESM) architecture from the start. The workflow engine, service catalog, and portal are built to be department-agnostic, making it easy to onboard HR, Facilities, Legal, and other departments onto the same platform.
We offer flexible, multi-tiered support and maintenance plans. These can range from basic break-fix support with guaranteed response times to a comprehensive managed service that includes proactive monitoring, regular feature enhancements, and strategic consulting to help you continue to optimize your service management processes.
We ensure project success through a combination of our CMMI Level 5 certified processes, agile methodology, and transparent communication. You get a dedicated Project Manager, weekly progress reports, access to a project management portal (like Jira), and regular sprint demos. For fixed-cost projects, the budget is guaranteed. For POD models, you have complete transparency and control over the backlog and budget burn rate.
Ready to Build a Better ITSM Future?
Stop letting your service management tool dictate your processes. Let's have a conversation about building a flexible, intelligent, and cost-effective platform that truly works for you. Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with our solution architects today.
Request a Free Consultation