Written By: David Carneal – Digital Efficiency Consulting Group
Read time: 7 minutes

There are two tribes in every growing company. One of the most expensive technology decisions a growing company makes is deceptively simple: Should we build it, or should we buy it?

Tribe One says:
“Just buy the SaaS. It’s modern. It’s secure. It scales.”

Tribe Two says:
“We should build it ourselves. That way it actually works.”

Both tribes are confident. Both have spreadsheets. Both believe they are being rational.
Both are capable of quietly costing your company hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

Before we start swinging at either side, let’s define a few things clearly.

SaaS (Software as a Service):
Software you rent over the internet. You pay per user, per month. The vendor hosts it, maintains it, updates it, and controls the roadmap.

On-Prem (On-Premises Software):
Software installed on servers you manage. You control the infrastructure and upgrades.

Homegrown / Custom Software:
Software built specifically for your company’s workflows. You own the code. You also own every future decision attached to it.

Data Farm / Data Warehouse:
A centralized database where data from all systems flows into one unified source of truth.

Here’s the thesis:

The correct answer is almost never “always SaaS.”
And it is almost never “always custom.”

The correct answer is architectural maturity.

PART I: WHY SAAS TOOK OVER (AND WHY IT OFTEN MAKES SENSE)

SaaS exploded because it solved real problems.

  • Faster deployment
  • Vendor-managed security
  • Automatic updates
  • Reduced infrastructure burden
  • Predictable subscription pricing

For commodity systems like payroll, HR, accounting, and basic CRM, SaaS is frequently the responsible choice.

You do not gain competitive advantage by building payroll software.
You gain compliance audits.

But “works well” is not the same thing as “should run everything.”

THE MYTH: “ALWAYS BUY SAAS. IT’S FASTER AND CHEAPER.”

It is often faster in the beginning.
It is often cheaper in the beginning.

Then you grow.

Let’s use conservative math.

Scenario: 250-person organization

  • $90 per user/month base license
  • 30% upgraded at +$40/month
  • 25 reporting add-ons at $50/month
  • Ecosystem admin salary: $100,000/year
  • Consultant: $200/hour, 10 hours/month

Annual estimate:

Base licenses:
250 × $90 × 12 = $270,000

Premium upgrades:
75 × $40 × 12 = $36,000

Reporting add-ons:
25 × $50 × 12 = $15,000

Consultant:
10 × $200 × 12 = $24,000

Admin salary:
$100,000

Estimated subtotal:
$445,000 per year

Now ask:
How many of those licenses are actively used?

Many organizations discover meaningful underutilization. That is licensing creep.

It grows quietly.
Until finance notices.

THE SAAS SUPPORT TAX

The British sitcom The IT Crowd follows an IT department stuck in a basement. Their famous line:

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

It’s funny because it captures the gap between business expectations and technical reality.

Now replace that line with:

“Have you checked the advanced workflow settings?”
“Have you updated your permissions?”
“Did you run the correct version of the report?”

Without internal expertise:

  • Reports require help
  • Permissions are messy
  • Features go unused
  • Consultants fill the gap at $200/hour

Many SaaS vendors offer certification programs. If no one internally understands advanced features, you are paying for power you don’t know how to use.

WHEN SAAS STRUGGLES: COMPLEX ORDER CONFIGURATION

SaaS thrives in standardized environments.

It struggles when your business sells:

  • Highly configurable products
  • Dynamic pricing
  • Contract-driven rules
  • Complex approvals

At that point, many organizations build a custom order-entry layer that feeds into SaaS ERP or CRM.

SaaS runs the backbone.
Custom runs the complexity.

That hybrid model is often the grown-up answer.

PART II: WHEN BUILDING MAKES STRATEGIC SENSE

Analytics and reporting are often strong candidates for internal build.

Because your KPIs are not generic.

A data farm allows:

  • CRM, ERP, and order data to merge
  • One universal revenue number
  • Standardized dashboards
  • Faster internal reporting

A modest cloud-hosted environment might cost roughly:

$1,500–$3,000 per month depending on scale.
Call it roughly $30,000 per year for modeling purposes.

Compare that to 200 BI viewer licenses at $40/month:

200 × $40 × 12 = $96,000 per year.

The goal is not to eliminate SaaS.
It is to match licensing to actual usage and strategic value.

TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE: THE SILENT SYSTEM KILLER

If Dave built it and only Dave understands it, you do not own software.
You own a future risk.

Tribal knowledge happens when:

  • Documentation doesn’t exist
  • Only one person understands deployment
  • Credentials live in someone’s head
  • No architectural diagrams are maintained

There’s a term for this in engineering: the bus factor.

If one person leaving can collapse your system, you have a structural problem.

And this applies to SaaS too.

If Dave is the only one who understands your SaaS optimization and he leaves, your costs creep upward quietly.

Knowledge concentration is expensive.

DEVELOPER VS CONSULTANT MATH

Median developer salary often ranges $120k–$140k depending on geography.
Fully loaded estimate: ~$150k.

2,000 hours/year ≈ $75/hour effective.

Consultant rate (standardized for modeling): $200/hour.

20 hours/month = $48,000 per year.

Consultants seem cheaper until you combine:

  • Licensing creep
  • Admin salary
  • Add-ons
  • Project expansions

The question isn’t “Is a developer expensive?”
The question is “What ecosystem are we building?”

YOU NEED AN ECOSYSTEM OWNER

Regardless of SaaS, on-prem, or custom:

Someone must:

  • Audit licenses
  • Review permissions
  • Standardize reports
  • Oversee documentation
  • Track certifications
  • Plan integrations

Without ownership, systems accumulate instead of evolve.

BUDGETING IS NOT A ONCE-A-YEAR CONVERSATION

Restrictive budgeting leads to:

“Let’s settle for this solution even though it’s not quite right.”

Years later:
Massive overhaul.
Consultant army.
Executive frustration.

Architecture requires quarterly review.
And a flexible allocation for:

  • Workflow improvements
  • Certification training
  • Small custom builds
  • Integration changes

Growth does not wait politely for next year’s budget meeting.

PROCESS DEVELOPMENT IS THE MULTIPLIER

Technology amplifies process.

Ask small questions:

  • Is order entry laid out logically?
  • Are reports standardized?
  • Do roles see only what they need?
  • Can finance create statements while customer service only views them?
  • Are unused fields cluttering screens?

Small improvements create real change.
Because they compound.

QUICK REALITY CHECK

Item 1: Pull license counts.
Item 2: Pull 90-day usage.
Item 3: List premium add-ons.
Item 4: Calculate consultant spend.
Item 5: Calculate admin cost.
Item 6: Estimate internal dev equivalent.
Item 7: Ask uncomfortable questions.

Repeat annually.

FINAL THOUGHT: THIS IS ABOUT STEWARDSHIP

Auditing systems is not about blame.
It is about financial health.

Unchecked inefficiencies show up as:

  • Margin pressure
  • Budget freezes
  • Slower hiring
  • Deferred investment

The person who asks:

“Before we renew, can we review usage?”
“Are we certified internally?”
“Are we documenting everything?”

That’s not rebellion.
That’s leadership.

In The IT Crowd, leadership often misunderstands IT.
It’s exaggerated.
But the joke works because it’s relatable.

Don’t be the company that laughs at the show and then repeats it.

Be the company that understands its architecture.
Be the company that audits with discipline.
Be the company that documents relentlessly.

Sometimes the bravest thing in a meeting isn’t approving the renewal.

It’s asking one more question.

HOW DECG CAN HELP

If any of this feels uncomfortably familiar, it may be time for a fresh outside perspective.

Digital Efficiency Consulting Group (DECG) offers focused technology ecosystem audits that quickly surface where costs creep, workflows break down, and systems become harder to manage as you grow.

This is not a massive consulting engagement or a rip-and-replace initiative. It’s a scoped, practical review, typically completed in 1–2 weeks, and typically priced in the single-digit thousands, depending on complexity.

Most teams walk away with:

  • Clear licensing and usage gaps
  • Documentation and ownership risks identified
  • Workflow and reporting improvements mapped
  • A realistic set of next steps that don’t create chaos

In many cases, companies uncover 5–10% annual technology savings simply by tightening what already exists.

If you’d like a low-risk way to sanity-check your ecosystem before the next renewal, expansion, or platform decision, let’s talk.

👉 Schedule a quick 30-minute discovery call here
or reach us directly at questions@thedecg.com to request an audit outline.