Buy when the task is the same everywhere and a tool already does it well. Build when it depends on your systems, your rules or what sets you apart. In between, the most common answer is to combine: market tools for the standard, custom work for the core of your business.
Four questions to decide
- Is the task the same in every company? Taking meeting notes, proofreading, transcribing a call: yes. Matching your invoices against your tolerances, answering according to your policies: no.
- Where is the data? If the agent must read and write in your ERP, your CRM and your business tools, integration will be most of the work, and a generic tool will plug in poorly.
- Which rules must it follow? Approval thresholds, exceptions, access rights: the more precise your rules, the more a standard tool will force you to work around them.
- Is it an advantage for you? What sets you apart from your competitors deserves to be built and to belong to you. What does not can be bought.
In short
| Buy | Build | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Fast | A few weeks for a first case |
| Fit with your rules | Limited to the settings provided | Complete |
| Integration with your systems | The vendor’s connectors | The one you need |
| Data | With the vendor, under its contract | Where you decide |
| Ownership | A license | The code is yours |
| Cost | Per-user or usage-based subscription | Build, then operations |
The traps
- Building what already exists. If a tool does the task well, custom work will cost more for a comparable result.
- Buying for a unique process. A generic tool on a process specific to your company often ends up worked around by the teams.
- Forgetting the run. Bought or built, an agent must be looked after: quality, costs, changes. Plan who will do it.
Our position
During the diagnostic, we tell you frankly when a market tool is enough. We build what needs building, and connect it to the tools you keep.