When it comes to enterprise-grade applications, organizations can go one of two directions: They can either spend a great deal of time and energy building a bespoke application, or they can integrate a pre-built commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution. This question is known as “build vs. buy,” and it is a choice enterprises decision-makers confront time and time again.
When deciding which path to take, organizations must weigh various considerations and often end-up making sacrifices no matter which direction they go. But what if we told you that it is possible to get all the advantages of building a bespoke solution (i.e., customization and differentiation) without any of the attendant disadvantages (i.e., cost and time)? With no-code, organizations can completely transform their deliberations on whether to build or buy.
The Tradeoffs of the Traditional Build vs. Buy Decision
If you decide to build a solution, you’ll be able to customize it to fit the unique requirements of your business, which can help you stand out in a crowded market and secure a competitive advantage. However, building an enterprise solution (with a traditional development method) is difficult, time-consuming, and prohibitively expensive for many smaller businesses.
Buying a solution will probably help you get to market faster, and might even save some money. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to find a pre-made solution capable of meeting all your business requirements.
When deliberating whether to “build or buy,” organizations are too often compelled to settle for a COTS solution due to the inherent challenges of code-based development.
Stephanie Berwick, Unqork’s Alliances Director, likes to compare the decision to buying a car directly from a factory versus buying one off a dealership lot. “If you buy a new car from a dealership, there’s usually a plethora of good options available, so you’ll probably be able to get something you want. You get to negotiate your price with the dealer and drive off the lot that day, but you may not get everything on your requirements list,” she explains, likening this process to buying COTS solutions. “Conversely, if you order a brand new car directly from the factory, you are able to customize your vehicle, but you won’t get it that day and you probably won’t be able to negotiate the sticker price.”
When deliberating whether to build or buy, organizations are too often compelled to settle for a COTS solution due to the inherent challenges of code-based development. Consider that it can take up to a year to develop and deploy custom enterprise software using a traditional approach, with 70% of large-scale digital IT programs failing to even reach their stated goals. This is where no-code can be a game-changer.
In the section below, we’ll explore how no-code upends these considerations and provides companies with greater freedom to choose when to build and when to buy.
How No-Code Reframes the Build vs. Buy Conversation
Substituting an enterprise no-code platform like Unqork for a traditional approach mitigates the risk and cost of custom development. More importantly, it completely reframes the classic build vs. buy decision. When compared to a traditional code-based approach, no-code is:
- Faster: With traditional development methods, it can take years to get from ideation to production. With no-code, drag-and-drop components, templates, and pre-made workflows eliminate the need for time-consuming backend work—all you have to do is connect them. A large-scale IT project that would’ve taken nine-to-12 months to complete with code can be ready to deploy in a matter of weeks with no-code. What’s more, you don’t have to sacrifice function for speed. “You can start at zero and still get every requirement you want in a fraction of the time,” Stephanie says.
- Less Resource-Intensive: Between hiring specially trained engineers, managing legacy systems, and chipping away at a mountain of technical debt, building and maintaining software can get very expensive, very quickly. No-code necessitates fewer IT resources than code, but it also opens the development process to more users, which allows organizations to save money without sacrificing quality.
- Easy-to-Integrate: With today’s expansive digital infrastructures, developers often spend an outsized amount of effort integrating any new solution with legacy and external systems. Unqork’s API-based structure and visual interfaces make it easy to integrate any new application with existing systems or third-party services. Instead of worrying about how well modern and legacy systems will fit together, you can focus on designing new functionality using cross-system workflows.
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No-Code Delivers Everything You Need
With no-code, the build vs. buy debate might not be much of a debate after all. You don’t have to settle for an off-the-shelf solution. With no-code, you can build a custom application that fulfills all your requirements in a fraction of the time, for a fraction of the cost of building with traditional code. Unqork no-code makes demonstrating value, taking on a larger volume of projects, and setting up a cycle of success easier and faster than you ever thought possible.
Want to learn more about how no-code can transform your business? Schedule a personalized demonstration with one of our experts. Also, sign up for the Unqork newsletter to keep up-to-date on the latest in the world of no-code.
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