Build or buy,
answered honestly.
We build custom software, so we have an obvious interest in one answer. Each page below names the specific cases where the other option wins — because for a great many companies it does, and telling you otherwise would cost you money.
- Custom build · Packaged suite01
Custom ERP versus a packaged suite like SAP
Neither answer is universal. The decision turns on how much of your process is genuinely unusual, and how much change you can absorb.
- Custom build · Licensed platform02
Custom CRM versus Salesforce or HubSpot
The honest trigger is rarely features. It is seat cost at scale, or a bought CRM your team has already stopped updating.
- Custom build · HR product03
HRMS: build or buy
The tell is the shadow spreadsheet. If your real leave rules live outside the HRMS, the product does not fit your policy.
- Custom code · Low-code platform04
Custom software versus low-code platforms
Low-code is right far more often than developers admit — and wrong in a specific, predictable way that arrives late.
- On-premise · Public cloud05
Public cloud versus on-premise and bare metal
Cloud is right for most workloads. It is wrong for a specific, identifiable set — and the tell is steady load or a regulator.
- Custom build · Tally alone06
Custom software versus Tally
This comparison is framed wrongly by most people who search for it. Tally is rarely the thing to replace; it is the thing to build around.
- Custom build · Zoho suite07
Custom software versus the Zoho suite
For a large number of businesses Zoho is the right answer and building would be waste. The question is whether your advantage lives in a process it models.
- Custom build · Odoo08
Custom ERP versus Odoo
The question is not whether Odoo can do it. It is how much you will have to change it, and what that costs you at every version upgrade.
Still not sure which way?
Describe the process and the constraints. We will tell you which side of the line you are on — including when the answer is to buy something and not hire us.