Johannesburg, 11 Feb 2014
Build or buy? This is a question that has haunted government for decades, with each leadership change prompting organisations to change their views on whether to construct or procure new software solutions.
Although custom-built software provides IT with complete control over all aspects of the application design, middleware and user experience, it can be costly to develop in terms of time, money and resources. Beyond the initial project delivery, it's also costly to manage and maintain these applications, increasing the total cost of ownership and limiting the resources available for new business solutions.
Also, custom applications are usually one-off solutions, built from the ground up, with little possibility of re-using functionality by other business applications. Common architectures, platforms and development frameworks are often created within organisations to remedy this deficiency. Although there are plenty of these available from which to choose, they still require highly paid programmers to use, and must be continually updated as technology advances. This results in an IT maintenance burden and a brake on business development.
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