Buy when the process is common and a good product already fits most of your needs. Build when the software is your competitive advantage and you can afford to maintain it for years. Integrate when the pieces already exist and the problem is how they talk to each other. Most businesses should build far less than they think.
Start with the question behind the question
"Should we build or buy?" usually hides a better question: is this process something that makes us different, or something every business does? Accounting, payroll and email are the same everywhere. Your pricing engine or customer experience might not be.
The framework
| Question | Points to buy | Points to build |
|---|---|---|
| Is it a competitive advantage? | No, it's a standard process | Yes, it's how we win |
| Does a product cover 80% of needs? | Yes | No, and the gap matters |
| Can we maintain it for 5 years? | We'd rather not | Yes, with a team or partner |
| How fast do we need it? | Weeks | Months is acceptable |
| How unique is our data? | Standard | Proprietary and valuable |
The costs people forget
When building
- Maintenance, security updates and hosting, every year, for as long as it runs.
- The cost of the people who understand the code leaving.
- Features you'll need later that a product would have included.
When buying
- Per-user or per-transaction pricing that grows with you.
- Changing your process to fit the product.
- Lock-in: how hard is it to export your data and leave?
The third option: integrate
Often the right answer is neither. Many growing businesses already own good tools that don't talk to each other. Connecting them, directly or with an integration platform, can solve the problem for a fraction of a custom build.
A simple rule
Buy what everyone needs, build what only you need, and integrate before you do either. For an independent view of your options, see our technology consulting.
Technology & IT Consulting
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