Should we build in, or should we buy in? When it comes to software, this is one of the oldest questions management teams have to answer.

And obviously, there is a clear temptation from some organisations to contemplate the former option. Perhaps they have an R&D team, an engineering team, the programming skills, and the time and resources readily available. So, why not build it? 

Yet, we believe that this should be less of a question about whether or not an organisation can build it. Rather, the right question organisations should be asking themselves is why they should build it.

SWOT analysis comes in handy when identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that come with business planning. While strengths and weaknesses are frequently internal, opportunities and threats are more commonly external. In the case of Buy vs. Build, a quick SWOT analysis should help answer the following:

1. Is this development strategic for our core offering? 
2. Will it bring extra value to our customers in a way that is different from our competitors? 
3. Will this create a new opportunity for us?
4. Do we have the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to handle this development and its continued maintenance? 
5. Do we have a track record of delivering quality projects on time? 
6. What is the market pressure or required time to market?
7. What is the overall cost assessment for either option?
   
   

We understand that these questions are a bit generic and can therefore apply to any kind of software development. However, it becomes a bit trickier when talking about SCA because SCA is not just about technology - it sits somewhere between software and regulation.

If you cannot answer the fundamental questions that accompany a good SWOT analysis well and with confidence, yet you choose to proceed with building your own SCA, you might be facing the following risks:

1. A defocusing of your teams as you will constantly be playing catch-up on this particular topic, not only with technology but with ever-changing regulation
2. Missing internal deadlines and external compliance deadlines
3. Non-compliance
4. Average or bad UX 
5. A complex solution that becomes hard to maintain and much more expensive to migrate to market solutions.

At Okay, we’ve worked hard to develop a state-of-the-art SCA solution that delivers consistent benefits to our customers. Years of combined research, development and industry experience have sped up time-to-market delivery and helped us avoid SCA project pitfalls. The constant discussions we have with our customers also drive our roadmap so that any new development is industrialised and avoids lock-in.  

As one of the best-of-breed SCA vendors, we solely focused on SCA and have solved the tech, regulation, and even UX equation thoroughly. For subjects where we do not have the complete answer, we have built up an ecosystem of partners that can step in with pre-integrated solutions. All in all, our job is about simplification by taking the integration complexity away from our customers. 

Buy vs. Build will always be a tricky question to answer. And when it comes to SCA, the topic is complex because of the layer of regulation. Therefore, it makes sense that for SCA, a company would be better off buying rather than building. It all comes down to quantifying the 5 basics values of:

1. Control
2. Monetary costs
3. Maintenance
4. Opportunity costs
5. Time to value
   
   

Although, if you have a few million euros to spend, why not test out the field of in-house development? After all, more competition means all the more innovation for our industry!