"Build vs buy for AI features: a decision framework"
Every SaaS tool you already pay for now ships AI features, so why build anything? Because the buy option quietly stops at the edges of your workflow. A practical framework for when off-the-shelf AI is enough, where custom pays, and the integration trap waiting on both paths.
Every SaaS product you already pay for has grown AI features in the last two years. Your CRM drafts emails, your helpdesk suggests replies, your document tool summarises. So when someone on your team proposes building a custom AI feature, the obvious challenge is: why would we build anything? It is the right challenge, and most of the time the answer should be "we wouldn't". But the cases where building pays are real, and the framework for telling them apart is simpler than the vendors on either side make it sound.
Have an AI feature stuck between demo and production?
The gap — reliability, evals, cost control, the plumbing that keeps it running unattended — is exactly the work I do. If that sounds familiar, a short conversation is usually enough to point you the right way.
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