Custom software is expensive. Buy it only when the process is the point.
Buy and configure when
- Many firms run a similar process (billing, basic CRM, a standard store).
- Your edge is the product, the location, or the brand, not the workflow.
- You cannot yet describe the exceptions without waving your hands.
Build when
- The workarounds are the process, and staff exist to feed a product that fights them.
- You need a lead, inventory or portal flow that off-the-shelf tools only cover with five integrations and a lot of hope.
- The system is how you will scale sites, brands or partners, and you will live with it for years.
Build still starts with a written requirement. ACS will do that piece even when someone else writes the code. When we build, the path is the same as the IT practice: understand, write it down, design, build, connect, go live, then improve.
If you are unsure, do not start with architecture. Start with one painful job (assigning leads, reconciling stock, publishing a daily number) and ask whether a product already does it. That is a better first meeting than a demo of everything a platform could do.