[software] Top 5 reasons to buy, not build, software

[#Drennn.]

Software: you need it. You can't achieve your business goals without it, and you have coders on staff. You have project managers. However, that salesperson from that big software company is telling you to just buy their product—it does seem awfully attractive. Should you do it? Here are five reasons to buy, not build, software. 

SEE: Software as a Service (SaaS): A cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Focus. You don't have to make all the calls. When you buy, you can concentrate on your business without having to spend time and resources on all the maintenance and bug fixes—that's what you pay your vendor to take care of for you.
Cost. The vendor has an economy of scale spread out across all of its clients and you get the benefit of that. You don't have to shoulder all the costs, especially up front.
Time. When you buy software, you spend time learning it and implementing it, but that's it. You don't have to spend time waiting for it to be made.
Updates. New features you need may arrive before you even knew you needed them. Since vendors are trying to keep all the clients happy, you benefit from the wisdom of their crowd of customers.
You're always staffed. You never have to worry about losing support and training the next person to maintain the software. The vendor will always have staff ready to help.
If you prioritize efficiency, convenience and the need for unending support, buying may be right for you. Don't just take this list's word for it. Do you value control and customization? We have another list of the top five reasons to build software that you may want to compare this to.

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