In this article
The default should be 'buy'
Most operational problems are solved problems — SaaS exists for a reason.
The three conditions that flip the decision
Workflow is genuinely non-standard, integration cost exceeds build cost, or the tool is a competitive differentiator.
A real example
Walking through the reasoning on a POS build we scoped as custom instead of recommending an off-the-shelf system.
The maintenance conversation people skip
Custom software has an ongoing cost — budgeting for it honestly up front.
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