Build, Buy or xRM?

Louise Alderton, 11 December 2010

When it comes to software businesses often will go right to the question – Build or Buy? But what if there is another option? In this post I will outline the positives and negatives of each of these options as well as explain another that you may not have considered, and may just be the answer you were looking for – xRM.

Building

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Positives:

• Will work specifically for you and your business.
• Unique requests can be included.
• You define entities, processes and automation to be included.
• Increased productivity is pretty much guaranteed.

Negatives:

• Expensive.
• High dependence on your software developers.
• On-going investment for upgrades.
• Time consuming.
• Risk for miscommunication.

Buying

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Positives:

• Inexpensive.
• Fast deployment.
• Reliable – has already been through thorough testing.

Negatives:

• May only do 60-70% of what you need it to do.
• How do you address the remaining issues?
• Can you integrate with your other systems?
• Any customisation you try will be unsupported and could face problems.
• Forced to adapt your business around the software.

xRM

What is it?

xRM encompasses the positives of both building and buying. It is not a tangible product but a strategy for creating a solution unique to your needs and builds on top of an existing platform – Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Positives:

• Considers essential factors from the very beginning (such as who will be using it, accessibility and what processes can be automated).
• Ability to leverage existing technologies.
• Can be integrated with your other essential business systems.
• Less expensive and more reliable than a straight build.
• You won’t be held ransom by your software developer as the Microsoft Partner Network offers many partner companies who understand the platform and could take over at any stage if ever necessary.
• Focus is on your business not on the software.
• That platform was designed to be customised on top of.

Negatives:

• More expensive than a straight buy, but hey, it makes up for it in productivity potential.

So there you have it. At the risk of sounding like an advertisement xRM appears to be the clear front runner. Of course, as a unique organisation there will be several factors to consider in making such a choice. I hope I have at least given you a bit of an insight into the options available to you and some helpful information to make your decision easier.

*Image 1 from: http://www.ipfw.edu/fitness/

**Image 2 from: http://www.achievemaster.com/2008/11/09/warning-to-succeed-you-need-to-start-thinking-inside-the-box/