The Path to Advanced Analytics: Buy vs. Build

In order to track and use data efficiently, your business needs to integrate some form of advanced analytics solution that will help you both track and analyze key metrics, and ultimately, make better decisions.

Choosing an analytics solution

While most leaders know the importance of using an analytics solution for their business, many of them are unsure about whether they should develop and build a solution in-house or buy and integrate software from a solutions provider.

While there are advantages and disadvantages to both of these options, it is important for you to consider your company’s specific needs when making a decision.

If your enterprise company needs an analytics solution, here are some key factors that will help you determine whether you should build your analytics in-house or look to partner with a vendor.

Cost

Like any other tool that you use to grow your company, your analytics solution is going to come at a cost. You will need to pay for collecting data from queries and storing that data for future use. To find the most affordable option, you need to consider your budget and your company’s needs and determine whether an in-house solution or a third-party solution will be best for your business.

There are countless services for storing and querying data that offer reasonable rates and high-quality performance. While buying software from a vendor will cost more upfront, there are also significant costs when it comes to building this analytics software in-house. Unless you already have a team of software engineers, data scientists, and developers on your payroll, you will have to hire people to create, implement, and maintain your solution.

While building an in-house solution might seem like the most cost-effective solution, it can actually end up becoming quite expensive over time. While any software will be an investment, you should consider start-up costs and the amount of data you will need to collect and store when deciding on an analytics solution.

Time

Another factor you need to weigh when deciding if you want to build an analytics solution or buy one from a third-party is the amount of time you are willing to invest into this solution. In order to remain competitive, your business is going to need to not only move quickly, but also implement changes quickly as well.

When you need to adjust your in-house solution or add a new tool in order to better analyze data and make decisions for your company, it will cost you time that you might not always have. Time for hiring and training in-house specialists, time for developing and improved analytics solution, and time for maintenance. Just maintaining a solution for an internal build can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months depending on the size of your team.

While an in-house analytic tool designed with a specific purpose in mind can take a team of ten engineers and data scientists half as long to develop simple price forecasting, enterprise software is less likely to have issues that require maintenance. When you use an enterprise solution, you see the results of a tool that has been rigorously tested, and you will have people dedicated to making sure your solution works so that you can spend your time focusing on running your business.

Consider the size of your team and how quickly you would like changes made to your solution when you decide whether or not to go with an in-house option.

Scalability

The more users, user actions, and data points that have to be collected, organized, and stored, the higher your storage costs will be, which can pose a problem for enterprise companies and companies that are growing quickly.

If you work with an in-house system that relies on costly web services, you may end up needing to get rid of old data in order to afford your analytics solution. While it might seem cost-effective now, this will cost your business in the long-run when you lack the data needed to make crucial decisions for your business.

When it comes to scalability, you need a solution that you are going to be able to use as your company continues to grow.

The Choice is Yours

Ultimately, your team will need to evaluate all analytics options through the factors mentioned: cost, time, and scalability. When you lay those factors over the specific analytical foundation you are hoping to achieve, your priorities will rise to the top, leaving you with a path to success.