Buy Versus Build

The Dilemma of every Hi-Tech Manager

Buy versus Build

From time to time, every manager

must decide between in-house and

outsourced development.

There is a strong temptation to go

for the in-house solution, using

resources already budgeted rather

than incurring the additional costs

of outsourcing. However, this

tendency should be counterbalanced

by other considerations.

The misconceptions are:

• Cost

• The “Not Created Here” Syndrome

• Public Relations: The Quest for Corporate Glory

• Job Satisfaction

1.Cost

People just assume they can’t afford to contract the work out, or buy an off-the-shelf product, without really investigating possibilities. They fail to consider the hidden costs of in-house development, especially for projects which involve many stakeholders, contributors, and program assets. Keep in mind that resources expended in assembling assets and learning new tools can add up to hundreds of employee-hours.

2.The “Not Created here” Syndrome

Sometimes, resistance to using existing off-the-shelf programs is caused by the “not created here” syndrome: if it was “not created here”, then it doesn’t bear the stamp of our unique corporate culture, our “brand”. It wasn’t built to our unique specifications by our native talent, subject to our quality control standards—therefore it can’t really answer our needs.

3.Public Relations:The Quest for Corporate Glory

Successful completion of a challenging project holds the prospect of a major public relations triumph. But the vision of a big public splash causes people to lose sight of the fact that failure attracts as much publicity as success—if not more.

4. Job Satisfaction

Frankly, the idea of developing it yourself is alluring: it’s the “fun” part of what we do, the creative part, and the reason many of us got into this business. The problem is that this desire clouds our more dispassionate and rational decision-making faculties.

When Does Building Make Sense?

Here’s a quick

decision-making guide:

Buy vs. Build flowchart.

Another Option:Renovate, don’t reinvent

• An alternative to buying a product outright is customizing one. You can do this not only by hiring the vendor to rework the product (an expensive proposition) but also through providing your own introductory, supplementary, or concluding content.

• It’s hard to justify spending more money when staff is already in place to help with development. But apart from the factors already mentioned, consider not only staffing expenses but also the costs of delays caused by learning curves, process meetings, pilot phases, and tweaking. If performance is critical, a year-long wait to get the course out to workers brings with it a cost to the organization, too, in terms of inadequate performance, mistakes, rework, lost sales, and lawsuits.

The Bottom Line:What does it really cost?

• After reading this paper, if you what to estimate the real cost of your documentation project executed by internal resources or done by us, send us a mail techcom@netvisin.net.il

• or visit our website www.technicalcom.co.il

Buy Versus Build