Nov
24
Build vs. Buy
November 24, 2005 |
When considering whether to buy a system to fill a business need, or to build your own, remember two rules:
- It is cheaper to buy than it is to build.
- It is cheaper to build than to rebuild.
In other words, it’s a good idea to buy a system that you’re willing to use as-is, or with very minor modifications. If, however, the system will require major changes to fulfill your needs, or your business users aren’t willing to adapt their processes, policies, and so forth to what the system can provide, then you really should build your own.
If it helps, look at it this way. Everyone knows that changes made after a system is in production cost far, far more than they do at requirements time. A purchased system is in maintenance mode. Every change in terminology, function, and process that the system is not explicitly designed to accomodate requires some developer to patch the system to fit your needs. And the more you change, the harder it is to upgrade to new versions of the application which may not take your changes into account.
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