Should you build or buy software?

When should you buy software?

Buy when the need is common to most organisations and the way you do it is not what makes you different. Accounting, payroll, email, CRM and document management are usually solved problems. A mature product brings years of edge cases, security work and support that a custom build would have to recreate.

When should you build software?

Build when at least one of these is true:

• The workflow is the advantage. How you serve customers or run operations is genuinely distinctive.
• Integration is the product. The value comes from joining systems that no vendor joins for you.
• Workarounds cost more than ownership. Staff time spent on spreadsheets, re-keying and exceptions exceeds the cost of a focused build.
• You need control. Data residency, auditability or regulatory requirements rule out available products.

What does custom software really cost?

The build is the smaller part. Ownership includes hosting, security updates, dependency upgrades, support, monitoring and the product decisions that never stop. Compare the total cost of ownership over three to five years with the subscription cost plus the cost of the workarounds you would keep.

The usual answer is hybrid

Most organisations should buy the commodity and build the differentiator. Use established platforms for the standard functions, then build the narrow layer that encodes your workflow, connects the systems and carries your data model. That layer is smaller, cheaper and easier to replace than a full custom platform.

A quick test

Ask: if a competitor bought the same product tomorrow, would they lose anything we have? If not, buy. If the answer is yes, the part they could not copy is the part worth building.