Across all industries, leaders are adopting digital tools to improve their businesses. It could be to launch digital transformations, support new remote workforce models, upgrade customer service, or automate your operations. 

Fortunately, software is also more accessible than ever. But, the power of choice can be overwhelming. And, your tech choices can be the difference between falling behind or getting ahead in your industry. 

So, what approach should you take with technology? Should you go with a SaaS solution like Nimbly or build your own software?

Whichever option is selected, you must think of the long-term consequences. Here are 5 reasons why building your own solution may not be the answer!

1. It’s often much more costly than planned

Building software is pricey. It is also unlikely that the budget allocated for developing a solution is enough to compete with a similar commercial solution that is sold to many other clients, this is because of simple economies of scale.

Additionally, there is a cost that organizations regularly underestimate or don’t account for: running the software. Once built, the software needs to be continuously supported, maintained, and updated using new technologies. This often causes under-budgeting. Expect the figure to be at least twice of what you expect.

To make matters worse, cutting corners will cost you down the road, as you will accrue technical debt, which will not be sustainable and eventually will cost you time, money, and other resources from your business.

Meanwhile, Nimbly offers an appealing pricing structure. Since the software is pre-built, you’re only paying for “access” to the software through a subscription fee. Your fee could be flat monthly or based on per-user or stores. Your subscription fee covers Nimbly’s ongoing maintenance, hosting, and upgrades to our solution. 

2. Return on investment & opportunity cost

Building your own software will take a lot longer to return any value. Whilst your developers are celebrating on finding innovative solutions to an organizational problem, you will barely have written your login page by the time your competitors who purchased a vendor solution already have real users on their system, generating value.

3. Why reinvent the wheel?

Even though an in-house built software will be tailored to the specific use cases within your organization, Nimbly offers the ability for a high level of customization.

And if you think your use cases are so unique, better think again. There’s a very high chance that Nimbly has already solved the same challenges with other users, so we know how to meet your specific requirements - there is really no need to reinvent the wheel.

4. The nightmare of system integration

System integration can easily become a black hole of your budget for building a software tool in-house. Couple this with a lack of experience in the subject area and it is easy to see where costs seem to be underestimated for projects over and over again. Nimbly offers integration into a variety of software landscapes. We can seamlessly link our solutions up with all of the other software in your technology stack.

5. Maintenance and future-proofing

Technological progress is inevitable and the pace is only getting faster. Plus,  it simply won’t stop. Once an in-house system is built and functional, it is already out of date, especially when it comes to the latest advances in cloud computing, data privacy, and security.

Nimbly is at the cutting edge in our field, we have multiple teams working on updating and future-proofing our software at any one time, and we are better equipped to handle the maintenance of an enterprise-scale software. Plus, relieving pressure from your internal teams will allow you to concentrate on your business goals.

Kesimpulan

When all is said and done, the decision of building or buying software may come down to personal preference. After all, an in-house built system can be tailored to your exacting needs and expectations without having to rely on influencing the third-party product roadmap, as well as keeping the up-front costs low. However, should you want scalability, performance, and cutting edge functionality, as well as no maintenance pressures; buying a software from a reputable vendor like Nimbly is the most sensible option.

As a general rule,  if the requirement to fit our software is 50% or more, it is wiser to buy than to build your own. Building a software yourself may seem very appealing up-front, but costs and risks will add up in the long term and lead to opportunity costs. You have to ask yourself, what is the best decision for long-term growth?