The core decision

Most teams fail by choosing too early between buying and building. The right move is determined by workflow complexity, data ownership, and reporting needs.

Build if these are true

• Your core process is a competitive advantage.
• Manual handoffs are slowing delivery quality.
• Existing tools create fragmented reporting.

Buy or integrate if these are true

• Your workflows are mostly standard.
• Implementation speed matters more than flexibility.
• The team can adopt process constraints.

Final rule

If your team is spending hours each week on workarounds, the hidden cost is often bigger than a focused custom build.