[freelanddev]

It really depends. Is this tech or some other industry that you're referring to?

I was previously a "consultant" (I sat on a professional services arm of a tech company). We sold a tool that was very powerful, but often required a customization for each individual client in order to unlock the true value of the tool. Once it was customized, it still required ongoing maintenance but significantly less effort.

We offered professional services as we way to streamline the "customization" process as well as train the clients' staff how to operate (and further customize) the tool. We were experts with the tooling, so we knew the optimal ways to build things vs. someone who is just reading documentation & trying to figure it out from scratch.

Probably in the short-term, this was a large expense for the customer, but if you were to visualize an expense comparison over time, it was probably significantly cheaper than forcing your staff to learn everything from scratch first, then build out the customizations, all the while they're unable to make progress on their other efforts.

So, I guess it really depends, but this was my experience.