Build or buy software? AI is rewriting the answer
Organisations must decide whether to build their own systems, buy existing solutions or combine the two. Off-the-shelf platforms offer proven functionality…
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Organisations must decide whether to build their own systems, buy existing solutions or combine the two. Off-the-shelf platforms offer proven functionality and speed. Bespoke solutions can deliver greater control and customisation. Increasingly, enterprises are taking a hybrid route, working with specialist partners to create scalable solutions.
“What we’re seeing with our clients is that everybody’s experimenting, everybody’s learning and everybody’s growing,” says Matthew Barnard, executive director at BBD Software. “The difficulty is that what you learned two weeks ago has already been replaced, and will be replaced again in two weeks’ time. But you can’t be a bystander on this journey; you need to get involved with it.”
There is no universal answer. The right choice depends on context, regulation and where technology can create real advantage.
Counting the comparative costs
AI has lowered the barriers to building software. Organisations can customise open-source models and use AI-assisted development to prototype and iterate faster.
Vibe coding, where developers use natural language to prompt AI tools to generate and refine applications, has made projects once considered too expensive or time-consuming more achievable. In financial services, it is even shifting the economics of legacy modernisation.
Barnard points to Cobol systems still widely used across banks. Projects that once took years to rewrite are becoming more viable. “Some of the estimates we’re putting in to clients are half the price of what they would have been three years ago,” he says.
Theodora Lau, founder of Unconventional Ventures and author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence, argues that the shift will force software providers to rethink pricing when organisations need only part of a SaaS product’s functionality.
But cheaper, faster development does not remove the complexity of getting enterprise software into production.
Custom builds still require governance, maintenance and security. In financial services, accuracy is non-negotiable. Barnard notes that SaaS platforms contain years of embedded knowledge and intellectual property that cannot simply be recreated through faster coding.
Lau agrees. “You’re dealing with people’s money, and you’re dealing with regulators. You can’t be 90% right, you have to be 100%.”
Where differentiation actually lives
The strongest case for customisation may lie where organisations genuinely differentiate. Barnard and Lau argue that highly regulated core systems, such as payments and accounting, will remain standardised. Customer-facing experiences offer more room for innovation.
“Enterprises should think about where they see the technology as an advantage,” says Barnard. “They’re looking to do something unique that their competitors haven’t done, and that’s more often in the front-end interaction with customers rather than in the back-end accounting systems, which are based on international standards.”
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