Build vs. Buy Decision Tool
Answer 10 questions across 5 strategic dimensions — and receive a data-driven Build, Buy, or Hybrid recommendation with rationale.
Strategic Fit
How central is this capability to your competitive differentiation?
How the Build vs. Buy Decision Tool works
You answer 10 questions in 5 sections of 2: Strategic Fit, Internal Capability, Time & Speed, Financial Considerations, and Risk & Compliance. The questions cover differentiation, roadmap control, engineering talent, maintenance capacity, urgency, market or regulatory deadlines, capital budget, confidence in a 5-year TCO estimate, data sensitivity, and vendor lock-in concern. Each question has 3 options.
Every option carries a Build score and a Buy score from 1 to 5. A core competitive differentiator scores 5 for Build and 1 for Buy. A commodity function scores 1 for Build and 5 for Buy. A need for the capability within 1 to 3 months scores 1 for Build and 5 for Buy.
The tool adds up all Build points and all Buy points. Your Build percentage is Build points divided by total points, rounded. Your Buy percentage is 100 minus the Build percentage. Every question counts equally.
Reading your results
Build is recommended when the Build percentage is 65% or more. Buy is recommended when the Buy percentage is 65% or more. Anything in between returns Hybrid. Confidence is Strong at 75% or more, Moderate from 65% to 74%, and Marginal for every Hybrid result.
The radar chart plots Build and Buy points for each section. The dimension analysis shows each section's Build and Buy points as bars against a maximum of 10. A short rationale paragraph explains the recommendation.