Build vs Buy vs Multisoft: the Right System in the Right Place

Building a system in-house

Developing a system internally means you have greater control over architecture, functionality, resources, and development pace. It may feel like the most flexible choice, but it also places significant demands on internal capacity.

Advantages of building a system

The primary strength of building in-house is a solution that precisely reflects your organization’s needs.

Examples of advantages:

• Better control over architecture, data management, and security. When everything is handled internally, your level of control increases—which is never a bad thing.
• High degree of customization—the system can be built entirely around your processes, and the organization may be more understanding if the project takes longer due to shifting priorities.
• Knowledge remains within the organization and can become a strategic asset. However, this assumes the employees who built and understand the system stay on.

Disadvantages of building a system

At the same time, in-house development often places a heavy burden on the organization. Few have time to spare, and it is difficult to free up people to work outside the line organization for various reasons.

Examples of disadvantages:

• High upfront costs and long lead times. There is a significant risk that priorities will change, and that you build for today’s needs that do not cover tomorrow’s.
• Dependence on internal expertise that is hard to recruit and retain makes it difficult to quickly assign the right people where they are needed over longer periods.
• Risk of growing technical debt if development is not kept up to date. This risk also exists with external systems that are not updated sufficiently or effectively.
• More than 60% of the IT budget in many organizations is spent on operating and maintaining existing systems. It may be wise not to keep digging where you stand.
• An alarmingly high share of implementation projects fail—even if the figures most often cited may feel exaggerated—software development is specifically pointed out as the main culprit.

Procuring a system

Buying a system can quickly deliver the functionality you need, either through a comprehensive solution or a more specialized product for your industry (“Best of Breed”). At the same time, consider strengths and risks: betting everything on one vendor can simplify management but also increases vulnerability if the vendor or system runs into issues or is not well received by the organization (which can lead to so-called vendor lock-in).

Advantages of buying a system

Purchasing an off-the-shelf solution provides a faster start. You get a proven product, a clear contract, and in many cases a good relationship with the vendor.

Examples of advantages:

• Faster time to value compared to building in-house. In some cases, the solution is so straightforward it can be purchased directly online.
• The vendor is responsible for operations, security, and updates. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Many, for example, prefer to stick to national or regional vendors and have high security requirements.
• Access to best practices from other customers in the same industry with similar challenges. If your vendor is knowledgeable and accessible, you have every opportunity to benefit from that relationship.

Disadvantages of buying a system

The problem is often that standard systems do not fit the organization perfectly. Customizations can be both costly and slow, and you are limited to what is available. This means you will need to adapt to a greater extent.

Examples of disadvantages:

• Expensive customizations and ongoing license fees. It is hard to avoid licensing costs, as they have become part of how companies make money, but keeping customizations few and inexpensive is optimal.
• Risk of lock-in to a specific vendor. Some companies have had such severe issues with certain vendors that it disrupts operations at a fundamental level. The more complex the system, the greater the risk of failure, and if you purchase too many systems, you may not be equipped to develop solutions from a skills perspective. This can, for example, involve APIs or data migration issues tied to the systems.
• The system does not always reflect the organization’s processes, and you may have to accept that the business is not entirely satisfied. Both requirements gathering and change management play a role here.

Multisoft: the best of both worlds?

For many organizations, there is a third way: a tailored solution built on a flexible platform. With Multisoft and Softadmin®, you get the best of both worlds: the adaptability of an in-house system combined with prebuilt components that shorten development time.

Advantages of a tailored solution

With a customized platform, you get a system designed around your processes and needs without having to build from scratch, yet you can still influence features, logic, and the interface so the solution appropriately reflects your operations. The result is shorter development time, lower technical debt, and a system that meets today’s requirements and can scale with the organization.

Examples of advantages:

• Tailored functionality without starting from zero. With our modular platform and prebuilt components such as integration support, AI support, automatic code generation, modeling support, etc., we can develop system solutions 5–20 times faster.
• Can connect to virtually any other systems and IT environments, whether cloud-based, on-premises, or hybrid.
• A reliable delivery model where every system starts with structured requirements gathering leading to a clear specification. Multisoft’s delivery projects receive 4.7 out of 5 in CSAT.

Disadvantages of a tailored solution

There are considerations here as well. You need a partner you trust, and the business must be engaged in defining the requirements.

Examples of disadvantages:

• Requires initial work to map processes and requirements. Multisoft’s requirements analysts work exclusively to understand business and IT needs, but it is important to take the time to arrive at the right requirements. Close collaboration is crucial for long-term success.
• Not every need is suitable to solve with a tailored system. You may lack sufficient budget or be looking for functionality that is easier to buy than to build. Customizing a system is usually not cheaper than buying an off-the-shelf solution.
• A tailored solution takes longer than buying a system (but less time than building).

Points to consider

Daniel Larsson, Business Developer at Multisoft, offers sound advice if you are considering how to take the next step when there is a gap in your system landscape or processes to automate:

Regardless of the path you choose, it is important to view the IT strategy holistically. It is not just about solving today’s needs but about creating a solution for future development.

Therefore, ask questions such as:

• How quickly can you adapt the system when needs change?
• What does the total cost of ownership (TCO) look like over five or ten years?
• What value does the solution create relative to the investment and effort (for both the business and IT)?
• How do you reduce the risk of technical debt and lock-in?
• Do you have time to build in-house? Do you have the budget to buy?

By weighing the pros and cons of the three options, you gain a better basis for decision-making and can build an IT architecture that both the business and IT can stand behind.