Build, Buy or Outsource? The Software Dilemma.

At our most recent event, entitled “Build, Build or Outsource: The Software Dilemma”, Fruition IT gathered Software Leaders from across the region to participate in an engaging debate, led by a panel of experts.

We wanted to explore what to do when your organisation encounters a problem that can be solved with technology. Should we spin up a team and build internally, buy a product off the shelf, or should we outsource software delivery activities to a 3rd party?

Attendees soon realised that this was a shared dilemma, that has been debated by tech leaders for decades, and many took comfort from learning that they weren’t the only ones weighing up this decision.

Our panel was made up of a Software Vendor, an End User with a tendency to build everything, two outsourced service providers, and an experienced CIO that’s had to make this decision time and time again. This proved a great mix of view points and experience to draw from. 

After talking through the pros and cons of each approach to software delivery, I think we concluded that, well, the answer is….

“It depends!”

Whilst that sounds like a cop out, and that all we got from this meetup was great networking, good food and perhaps a beverage or two, taking some time to talk through each option, and hear the views of our battle hardened (maybe scarred?) panel certainly equipped the room with the right questions to ask of particular situations to help in deciding the best course of action.

BUILD

The key question here was: “Is our requirement that special?”. We discussed how often business problems were really so unique that they require a bespoke solution, and whether we could bend business processes to suit products already in existence and not have to spin up a project and team every time.

We explored whether choosing not to build something could remove competitive advantage – should we really be implementing the same software that our competitors use?

This led on to what, for me, was the key take away - to consider whether a product was being built in a core customer facing area, adding commercial advantage, or to solve a problem in a non-core area that may have already solved.

BUY

The panel raised the point that buying some software is just the start, and businesses need to remember there’s still effort required to ensure successful implementation of digital change, and that we should invest time in the relationships with our vendors.

We were also warned to proceed with caution when paying software vendors to create custom parts for us – we need to ask how their architecture allows for this, to ensure that we don’t end up with issues as later versions of the core software are released, and also be careful not to get tied into one vendor for a core business system.

It wasn’t all bad for the Buy choice, where specialist software already exists that solves our problems, we should absolutely engage with those vendors, and before customising, we should consider whether we could learn from other businesses successfully using the products out of the box. We should also pay attention to the contract, and make sure we use the right people in legal and procurement or outsource this to a specialist if we don’t have the skills in house.

OUTSOURCE

This could have been a separate talk – the topics explored here were wide ranging, and it became clear that who you outsource to, how you engage with that provider, how embedded in your business they are, and exactly what you rely on them to do are all things that contribute to the success or failure of the project. 

We spent time discussing how to make sure that we have the right people internally to manage the 3rd party consultants, balancing the need to ensure

It was great to hear stories from some of the Software Consultancies in the room of co-located teams, with consultants and inhouse teams working side by side, as well as ways of using 3rd parties for burst capability, remembering that it’s better to build those relationships ready for the peak in demand, and not during the peak in demand / whilst everything is on fire!

In Summary

Feedback from attendees was that this was a great event, albeit one that sparked more debate than provided hard fast answers!

Thanks again to the panel: 

• Richard Ellis (Answer Digital)
• Dan Graf (Infraxis AG)
• Simon Parkinson (Zen Internet)
• Dave Jones (Digital WOW)
• Bernard Jauregui (BJSS)

And of course everyone that attended!

We are always open to ideas and suggestions for future events, along with speakers or panel members, so please get in touch to talk about any ideas you have or to get involved! 

Email [email protected]