For an owner choosing a technology approach before committing to a product or custom build.
01Specify the job before selecting the path
Choose a workflow with a clear start, finish and person accountable for the result. Describe the information it needs, the decisions it supports and the exceptions that interrupt it. Separate a real requirement from a familiar habit. Reproducing every old spreadsheet inside new software can preserve the problem while making it more expensive to change.
Use representative, permitted test data and include an awkward case. A demo that handles a perfect record tells you little about a missing field, a corrected order or a duplicate customer. Write acceptance criteria before watching demonstrations so that a striking feature does not quietly replace the original job.
02Compare four paths on one page
Buying adopts a product’s established way of working. Configuring adjusts supported settings without taking ownership of the underlying product. Integrating connects existing systems and creates responsibility for what passes between them. Building creates a tailored component and a continuing obligation to maintain it. A practical solution may combine the paths.
UK technology purchasing guidance asks teams to consider commercial, technical and contractual aspects together.1 Apply that breadth without importing public-sector procurement rules into a private business: ask what the approach enables, what it constrains and who carries the obligations after launch.
Four choices, four ownership questions
| Area | Question |
|---|---|
| Buy | Can we use the product’s workflow without harmful workarounds? |
| Configure | Are the required changes supported and maintainable? |
| Integrate | Who detects and repairs failed or inconsistent transfers? |
| Build | Who owns the code, support, changes and eventual exit? |
03Price the ownership work, not only the purchase
Compare migration, setup, training, administration, integration monitoring, support, changes and exit work over the same planning period. Record what is known, estimated or excluded. A low initial quote can leave substantial work with an employee whose capacity has not been discussed. A high quote can include responsibilities another proposal omits.
Ask who will resolve a failed synchronization, approve a field change, restore a mistaken deletion and maintain documentation. If the answer is “our supplier,” identify the service actually contracted. If it is “the team,” name the role and available capacity. Unowned maintenance is a decision cost, even before anyone can price it reliably.
04Run the same difficult case through each option
In this invented example, a service business needs a completed job to become an invoice-ready record. An off-the-shelf product handles the normal case but needs configuration for an approval step. An integration can connect the current systems but must flag incomplete records. A custom tool handles the exception elegantly but needs its own support owner.
The comparison should show what happened to the exception, what manual work remained and how each path recovered. It should also show whether information can be exported in a usable form. Do not assume a successful demonstration proves a safe migration; those are different tests with different failure modes.
05Choose a reversible commitment where possible
Before committing broadly, agree the smallest scope that can test the crucial requirement. Identify the fallback, what data is authoritative during the trial and who can stop it. Keep old records until a verified replacement and retention decision exist. A rollback plan that merely says “return to the old system” is incomplete if the new work cannot be reconciled.
Sometimes a standard product cannot meet a critical need, and a build is justified. Sometimes changing a nonessential process is better than maintaining custom software. The worksheet makes that tradeoff visible. It cannot select a vendor or establish security; technical and contractual review must address the actual solution.
Compare the same workflow across options
Use one workflow and one planning period. Mark estimates and unknowns.
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Sources and limits
Source pages checked 10 October 2026 UTC. The worksheets are editorial aids; they have not been validated as predictive assessments.
- UK Government · Define your purchasing strategy. Published 6 November 2017, updated 3 September 2026; checked 10 October 2026. Primary public-sector technology guidance. Supports considering commercial, technical and contractual implications together. The comparison here is an editorial adaptation for private businesses, not procurement or legal advice.
Our interest
Heritage Intelligence is taking first conversations about paid CRM and systems work, so we could be one of the suppliers this comparison weighs. You can use this guide and its worksheet independently, without engaging Heritage.
Service work, The Read included, is a separate relationship: if we become interested in buying a business we are working with, we stop that work and tell the owner plainly before any purchase discussion begins.
This article is educational. It is not individual legal, tax or investment advice, an offer or a promise of results.
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