Your organization is growing rapidly and it’s time to fine-tune your scaling efforts. Needs are more complex and so are your systems, requiring to either buy or build your own workflow software to meet the demand. With so many options around you, you’ll have to decide which products are fixed, easier to integrate with your current system and determine time, cost, and control investment upfront. Time is of the essence, and you need to make a decision fast. For the C-suite, balancing financial constraints and the prospect of investing in scalable solutions is tough. To overcome these obstacles, companies turn to the build versus buy question. There are two possible solutions based on your company’s current needs and long-term strategy: build your own custom software solution, or buy existing software. How do you know which is the right route for your company? This article uncovers key factors in the build vs. buy decision-making process.
Determine Cost to Buy
This is not the time to short-change your research. Do your homework and shop for vendors that you think would best suit your needs. There is a lot that goes into picking the right vendor, such as finding the right product fit and fit with the vendor supporting the product. Doing research also helps to cut through the noise of the many options available in the market, ensuring you validate each potential product’s value upfront. This helps to mitigate risk in the long-run. To make an informed decision, gather quotes from vendors and keep everything in a central location for reference, like a Google Sheet. Consult with your executives and other relevant stakeholders to determine if the cost is not only within budget but justifiable. Software review websites, vendor case studies, white-papers, industry reports, and testimonials are great ways to validate the accuracy and effectiveness of a vendor’s software.
Estimate Cost to Build
Aside from actual cost, be real about your customer’s needs and your current strategy long-term. Reaching the best decision will require approval from important stakeholders like your executive suite, upper management, and departments. Generally, these stakeholders want to know two things when making a decision: 1) How much the software will cost upfront, and 2) the ROI of building a custom software solution in-house.What is critical in this conversation is also determining your customer’s needs based on the capabilities and needs of your product team. If your IT department requires more volume and man-power, then customization may better serve customers in that ecosystem. If your team is smaller, like a startup, maybe buying software is ideal to save money and retain agility. Decide whether agility and flexibility or comprehension and depth is more important here. Bottom line: It really boils down to how much your enterprise values control of the software’s functionality, design, and other important features.
