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Modernizing enterprise applications is no longer a binary decision between buying off-the-shelf solutions or building from scratch. Today, leading CIOs are adopting a more flexible, blended strategy - one that aligns technology choices with business priorities to accelerate innovation, reduce complexity, and enable long-term agility.
Understanding the Three Approaches
- Buy: Ideal for standardized, commoditized functions like payroll, accounting, or procurement. Buying commercial software reduces time-to-value and leverages industry best practices.
- Build: Recommended when business differentiation, innovation, or regulatory requirements cannot be met by off-the-shelf products. Building allows for tailored experiences and competitive advantage.
- Blend: Most organizations need a hybrid model. Integrating built and bought solutions enables organizations to maintain agility while ensuring consistency in data, workflows, and user experience.
When to Use Each Approach
Use these principles to guide application strategy:
- Buy when speed, cost-efficiency, and proven functionality are the priority.
- Build when the business needs a unique capability that supports competitive differentiation.
- Blend when integration, user experience, and data continuity are critical across the tech stack.
Consider applying Gartner’s pace-layered model:
- Systems of Record (finance, HR): typically purchased
- Systems of Differentiation (customer onboarding, analytics): often blended
- Systems of Innovation (AI-based services, emerging technologies): usually built or prototyped
Putting Strategy into Practice
Application strategy is not one-size-fits-all. A CRM initiative, for example, might involve:
- Buying core CRM capabilities
- Building a custom analytics dashboard for relationship insights
- Blending data pipelines with ERP and marketing tools
The key is ensuring technology choices support both near-term business outcomes and long-term architecture goals.
Moving Forward
The right approach depends on your organization's specific needs, competitive landscape, and strategic priorities. Success comes from thoughtfully applying buy, build, and blend principles to create a cohesive technology ecosystem that enables business agility.
How Crowe Can Help
Crowe helps organizations make smart technology decisions by aligning enterprise application strategy with business goals. Whether you're evaluating off-the-shelf solutions, planning a custom build, or managing integration complexity, our team supports you every step of the way.