Systems
Your software is priced in dollars and your sales in pounds: the case for owning your systems
Every move in the exchange rate quietly raises the cost of the software your company subscribes to. How to measure that cost, and when owning the system makes more sense.
Few searches in Egypt are as constant as «سعر الدولار», the dollar rate. It spiked again in mid-October 2026. Most companies watch it for imports and prices. Fewer notice that the same rate sits inside their software bill, because the CRM, the store platform and the booking tool are usually priced in dollars while the revenue comes in pounds.
What March 2024 showed
On 6 March 2024, when the Central Bank of Egypt let the pound float, the dollar moved from about 31 pounds to about 49.5 on the first day. Every subscription priced in dollars became roughly 60% more expensive in pounds overnight, without a single new feature. Vendors also raise their own prices from time to time, and the two increases stack.
A worked example
Take a sales team of ten on a CRM priced, for this example, at per user per month. That is 0 a month, or ,000 a year.
| Dollar rate | Yearly cost in pounds |
|---|---|
| 31 EGP | 93,000 EGP |
| 49.5 EGP | 148,500 EGP |
The software is the same in both rows. Add a user, a module or a vendor price rise, and the number climbs again. Over three years, a mid-sized company can pay the price of a custom system several times over without owning any of it.
When a subscription still makes sense
- Tools where you are one customer among millions and the vendor does the heavy work: email, office software, video calls.
- Software that must follow changing regulations, such as accounting tools connected to Egypt’s e-invoicing system, unless you are ready to maintain that integration.
- Anything you are only testing. Rent while you learn what you need.
What to own first
Own the systems that carry your way of selling and your customer data, because they grow with the company and are the hardest to leave later:
- Your CRM and lead pipeline. Every customer, source and follow-up, without per-user fees.
- Your online store or booking system. No platform fees on each sale, and rules that follow your business.
- Your inventory and orders. One record of what you have and what you sold, connected to the store and the ads.
We built Dark Media’s own lead and project system this way, and the systems of many of our clients.
How we price a custom system
Clients in Egypt are quoted in Egyptian pounds, at a fixed price split into milestones, so the build cost does not move with the exchange rate. A focused CRM or inventory system starts from about 100,000 EGP. The hosting can be paid in pounds as well, through Hostinger’s Egyptian storefront, and the code, the data and the accounts are registered to your company.
Common questions
Won’t a custom system cost more to maintain?
It needs hosting and support, like any software. The difference is that you choose the support plan and pay it in pounds, and there are no per-user fees that grow with your team.
Can we move our data out of a SaaS tool?
Usually yes. Most tools export customers, deals and history. We map the data, move it, and run both systems side by side until your team is comfortable.
If you want to know what your software really costs in pounds and what owning it would cost instead, book a free consultation and bring your current subscriptions.