Buy off-the-shelf software when it meets your needs with little change to how you work. Build custom software when the software itself is a source of competitive advantage, when no product fits your process, or when combining several products would cost more and work worse than one tailored system. Often the best answer is to buy core tools and integrate or extend them.
When buying makes sense
- The process is standard, such as accounting, payroll or email
- A product covers most needs without heavy customisation
- You want to start quickly with predictable subscription costs
When building makes sense
- The software is how you differentiate or deliver your service
- Your process is unique and products force costly workarounds
- You need to combine data and workflows across several systems
- Licence costs grow faster than the value as you scale
The middle path: buy and integrate
Many businesses get the best result by buying proven tools for standard functions and building integrations or small custom applications around them. This keeps costs down while fitting the software to how the business actually works.
Questions to ask before deciding
- What would we need to change about our process to fit the product?
- What will the total cost be over several years, not just year one?
- Who owns the data, and can we get it out?
- How will this connect to the rest of our systems?
Want help putting this into practice? Explore our Digital Product Development services or see related work in our Himanshu Tours & Travels case study.
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