Build vs Buy Guide
Neither answer is right in general. Here's the framework that makes it obvious in your specific case.
Should you build or buy AI capabilities? Buy when the workflow is common (invoices, transcription, generic chat), volumes are modest, and vendors demonstrably serve your scale — configuration beats construction. Build (on AI platforms, not from scratch) when the workflow is differentiating, tightly coupled to your systems and rules, high-volume enough that per-unit pricing punishes you, or when no vendor survives your scorecard. The five-year comparison must include maintenance and change-rate on the build side, and price escalation, per-unit growth, and exit costs on the buy side.
Six questions that decide it
| Question | Points to BUY | Points to BUILD |
|---|---|---|
| Is this workflow differentiating or generic? | Generic — everyone processes invoices | Differentiating — your rules ARE the business |
| How tightly must it couple to your systems? | Standard connectors exist | Deep coupling to legacy or proprietary systems |
| What's your volume trajectory? | Modest; per-unit pricing fine | High/growing; per-unit pricing punishes |
| How fast do requirements change? | Stable domain | Rules change monthly (you'll wait on vendor roadmaps) |
| Do credible vendors pass your scorecard? | Yes, with references at your scale | No — everything is a demo |
| Can you maintain what you build? | No engineering bench | Real internal (or partner) capability, honestly assessed |
The usual honest answer is a hybrid: buy the commodity layers (models, OCR, orchestration platforms), build the thin differentiating layer (your rules, your integrations, your review workflows). That's also the architecture that survives vendor churn. Score vendors first with the scorecard — a market with no passing vendors makes the decision for you.
Costs people forget
On the BUILD side:
- Maintenance: typically 15–25% of build cost, annually
- Model/API changes forcing rework
- Key-person risk on whoever built it
- Monitoring, evaluation, and retraining time
On the BUY side:
- Renewal escalations once you're embedded
- Per-unit fees × your growth
- Integration work the demo didn't show
- Exit costs if data export is weak (check the contract now)
Find out what AI can actually do for your operations.
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