One of the most common questions in the technology industry is “buy or build?”. Also known as make or buy, the expression is related to whether organisations should develop software in-house or purchase it from a third-party vendor.
When it comes to the needs of businesses that want to leverage telecom software along with text, voice and video, the process of developing a solution becomes far too complex.
The question still stands: build your own or buy?
Fabrizio Salanitri, CEO of HORISEN, shares his thoughts on the topic:
“Initially, it is essential to consider the company’s resources in terms of budget and sufficient experienced staff for software development.”
“Although investing in third-party software might look like a more expensive option beforehand, the costs for this ready-made solution are much more transparent and predictable. It is highly unlikely that you overcome your budget with unforeseeable issues on the development side.”
When building software from scratch, organisations might fail to predict costs during development and afterwards.
Testing new features, software malfunctions are maintaining security levels are one of the most challenging aspects of building a solution.
Add the maintenance costs to the equation, and you get a pretty cumbersome endeavour.
“The company whose primary mission is not to gain a competitive advantage by building a cutting-edge technology solution but rather to achieve competitive parity and overrun their competitors can make less profit during the development phase due to the fact that their employees are less available for day-to-day business.”
“These projects can take much longer than planned so the company might face a great financial challenge”, adds Salanitri.
Buy all the way?
Software solutions developed by third-party vendors have already gone through testing and quality assurance phases which critically lowers the risk of failure.