The dilemma: custom or standard?
Every enterprise organization regularly faces the build-vs-buy question. The cost of a wrong choice is significant: building too early wastes millions, staying too long with a SaaS solution can cost competitive advantage. Our framework helps make this decision objectively.
The 4 decision criteria
Criterion 1: Strategic differentiation, does the software deliver a unique competitive advantage? Criterion 2: Process specificity, do your processes significantly deviate from market standard? Criterion 3: Integration depth, how many customizations are needed to integrate a standard solution? Criterion 4: Scalability, how quickly do your requirements change?
The hidden costs of both options
Build: don't underestimate the costs of maintenance, security patches, and team continuity, typically 20-25% of the initial investment per year. Buy: don't underestimate the costs of customizations, vendor lock-in, and license escalation at scale, on average 15-30% higher TCO than initially budgeted.
The hybrid approach: the best of both worlds
More and more enterprise organizations are choosing a hybrid approach: standard SaaS for commodity processes, custom development for differentiating processes. A composable architecture makes it possible to make the optimal choice per domain and adjust it later without disrupting the whole.