Build vs. Buy Strategy for Automation

Overview

What we deliver

We help you decide where to build, where to buy, and where to combine, with a clear framework, scorecards, and a defensible recommendation.

We help leadership teams make the build versus buy call without getting pulled by vendor pitches or internal preferences. Our team reviews your target use cases, current stack, in-house capabilities, and total cost expectations across a three year horizon. We compare credible vendor options, evaluate custom build paths, and model hybrid approaches where they make sense. Each option is scored on fit, switching cost, time to value, vendor risk, and operating cost. We surface trade-offs in plain language so finance, IT, and operations can debate the same facts. The deliverable is a written recommendation with the reasoning, the assumptions, and the conditions under which the answer would change. We aim to give you a decision your team can defend to the board and revisit later as the landscape shifts, without restarting the analysis from scratch.

Fit Check

Built for teams like yours

Who it's for

CIOs evaluating automation platforms
COOs weighing custom builds
Procurement and vendor management teams
Heads of engineering and platform
Founders choosing core operating tools

Pain points we solve

Vendor pitches without a fair comparison
Internal bias toward build or buy
Unclear total cost of ownership
Underestimated switching costs
No defensible record of how the call was made

What's included

Capabilities

Everything we cover in this engagement.

Use case and requirement workshops
Vendor longlist and shortlist
Custom build effort and cost modeling
Total cost of ownership analysis
Risk and switching cost review
Scorecards and weighted comparison
Reference calls and demo guidance
Written recommendation with rationale

How we work

Our process

A clear, predictable path from kickoff to outcomes.

01

Frame

Define use cases, requirements, and constraints.

02

Scan

Map vendor and build options for each use case.

03

Score

Rate options on fit, cost, risk, and time to value.

04

Pressure test

Review with finance, IT, and operations.

05

Recommend

Deliver written decision and conditions.

What you get

Deliverables & outcomes

What you get

Requirements and use case brief
Vendor shortlist with scorecards
Build effort and cost model
Three year total cost comparison
Risk and switching cost analysis
Written recommendation memo

Outcomes you can expect

Defensible build versus buy decision
Lower risk of vendor lock-in
Clearer view of total cost of ownership
Faster procurement cycles
Shared decision record for future reviews

Timeline

4 to 8 weeks

Engagement

Monthly retainer, Project, Sprint

Tools we use

Excel, Notion, Miro, Airtable, Google Sheets

KPIs we track

Total cost of ownership, time to value, switching cost, vendor risk score, requirement coverage

Client stories

What clients say

"

My books were 90 days behind and I was avoiding my accountant. They cleaned up nine months of mis-categorized Shopify and Stripe entries, set up proper rules in QuickBooks, and now my close lands on day four of every month. First time in three years I opened a P&L without wincing. Cash forecasting actually makes sense now.

D.R.

"

Our old site was a Frankenstein of three previous agencies. We gave them a hard launch date tied to a trade show and they actually hit it. 47 templates, full product catalog migration, no broken redirects on go-live day. Our previous vendor missed the same deadline twice. This time my phone stayed quiet on launch morning.

Marcus L.

Proof