Build, buy, or wait: a decision framework
Vendors say yes to everything. Here is how we help leadership teams decide what to build, what to buy and what to leave alone.
Every platform decision arrives with a demo, a discount and a deadline. The useful questions are the ones the demo cannot answer.
Is this a differentiator or a utility?
Buy utilities. Build only where the way you do it is genuinely part of how you compete — and be honest about how rarely that is true.
What does the product fight you on?
Off-the-shelf products usually cover most of a process. The question is the remaining part: can it be configured, integrated around, or does it force a workaround that becomes the next legacy system?
What is the cost of waiting?
Sometimes the correct answer is neither. If the process itself is unclear, buying or building will only make the confusion permanent. Fix the process, then decide.