Technology-Watch - Buy or Build

by: Simon Hughes
date: Friday, May 15, 2020
category: technology-watch buyorbuild

The question about whether we should build software or buy software is one I get asked more than any other. Here I will explain some of my thought processes on this subject. In case you don't already know it building software is hard, really really hard, and very expensive.

Building software is really hard and very expensive so should not be the default option. In most organisations there is a rule of thumb that suggests we would always buy something rather than build, and only build as a last resort. Now this may seem a bit extreme but this is still my guiding principle. As most of the companies I work with are classified as SME businesses (Small to Medium Enterprises), they don't have huge budgets so we tend to take a conservative approach and only build software where we absolutely have to. If we need a CRM system then great, I can provide a good evaluation of the market and suggest how we move forwards. We can make decision in days, and be up and running on a new cloud hosted SaaS system really quickly. The great thing is these are fully managed services and cost very little per user.

Since my background is as a Digital Architect, all my customers have products with a digital focus and this is where things get a little tricky. If we need a new platform for our customers to use, then do we attempt to buy something, get it customised, or do we build our own. General rule of thumb here is that this is going to be our unique selling point into the market so we need to build it ourselves to ensure we have full control over the platform. But even then I like to ensure that we can leverage as many prebuilt options as possible. There are millions of opensource and free software components which save huge amounts of time, so ensuring we do our due diligence and select the best components helps us build software fast in order to delight our customers.

Wnat to have a conversation about your business and how I can help you deliver, feel free to contact me, pick up the phone or drop me an email.