Build vs. Buy for CTI Solutions – CRM and CTI Integration

When the need for a business solution arises, the age old question has remained: should it be custom built or should an out of the box solution be purchased? While it may seem simple, determining the right solution approach is a complex process that may need the input of several organizational leaders based upon their strategic goals. Often, different departments may have different levels of understanding about the businesses’ needs and the costs associated with building or buying software.   Before deciding upon whether or not a company should invest in purchasing an out of the box integration solution or building their own, consider the three points below: Build vs Buy for CTI Solutions: Difficulty Integration is not a simple process. On the surface integration looks easy to many developers because it’s data manipulation; however, creating the adapters to move data in and out of different locations all have unique coding, which increases the chances for issues to arise. Similarly, creating a reliable, secure environment for running the business logic is also difficult. The knowledge required for an integration solution is often had by developers used to building integration solutions, but not by other firms. Opportunity Cost Spending resources to build a solution that is already available in the marketplace gives companies less of an advantage than using those resources to build solutions that are not readily available.  Building a net new solution vs. implementing a mature, proven one utilizes resources inefficiently and perhaps passes up an opportunity for innovation that could help gain a real advantage. For example, most companies do not try to build word processing software because there are some great options in the marketplace that would take in-house or consulting resources a considerable amount of time just to duplicate yet alone surpass in features. Investment The initial cost investment most companies evaluate for home grown software frequently omits the maintenance of that code including continuous learning for developers, maintenance of a development environment and source control.  It is not uncommon for the initial requirements for communication integration to grow over time to stay competitive and continue to meet the needs of the business.  Many organizations abandon their home grown CTI solutions when they realize they can no longer maintain the solution at the pace dictated by the business and the solutions to which they are integrating.  Remember, contact center and CRM platforms put out new releases regularly so changes to APIs when you don’t purchase a packaged solution are the responsibility of your IT organization.   If you’re looking for more resources like this about how to successfully plan and implement your CTI project, stay tuned! Follow us on Twitter @AMCTechnology for news about our upcoming free ebook, Simplify Your CTI Project. This eBook guides you through features of CTI, resource planning your organization, tips on how to select the correct CTI vendor and more.