In-house vs Outsource Economics

Build vs buy decisions get made on incomplete cost data—vendor proposals and engineering estimates without hidden costs or long-term projections. Then 18 months later, true unit economics remain unmeasured. BaaS relationships lack visibility into all-in cost per transaction. In-house builds can't prove they're cheaper or faster than vendor alternatives. Without forward-looking projections and backward-looking performance tracking, these become one-time decisions rather than ongoing optimizations, and teams can't justify platform investments or know when to switch approaches.

This solution provides cost projections before committing and performance tracking afterward—measuring true unit economics, quality benchmarks, and capability gaps to optimize make vs buy mix and prove ROI on platform investments.

WHAT DOES IT SOLVE?

Build vs Buy Cost Projection & Break-Even Analysis

Answers: What will each option cost over 3-5 years? When does build become cheaper than buy?
What it contains: Build cost projection (engineering FTE, infrastructure, third-party APIs, maintenance), buy cost projection (vendor fees by volume tier, implementation, customization), cost curves over time by growth scenario, break-even volume analysis, sensitivity to key assumptions (transaction growth, engineering costs, vendor pricing changes)

Actual Cost per Unit Tracking (In-House vs Vendor)

Answers: What does each approach actually cost per transaction, case, or customer served?
What it contains: In-house unit costs (fully loaded salary, infrastructure, tools, overhead allocation), vendor unit costs (fees, implementation amortization, integration costs, coordination overhead), hidden costs (rework, escalations, quality issues, technical debt), cost per unit trends over time, projected vs actual cost comparison

Performance & Quality Analysis

Answers: Which approach delivers better outcomes—faster, more accurate, higher quality?
What it contains: Speed metrics (processing time, time-to-resolution, deployment velocity), quality metrics (error rates, rework rates, customer satisfaction, compliance pass rates), availability and reliability (uptime, SLA compliance, incident frequency), scalability performance (how each handles volume spikes), flexibility and customization capability, vendor SLA compliance tracking

Vendor ROI & Contract Performance Tracking

Answers: Are you getting value from vendor contracts? Which vendors underperform?
What it contains: Actual spend vs contracted spend, SLA compliance measurement and penalties, cost per commitment vs actual usage, vendor performance scorecards (quality, speed, support), contract utilization rates (unused capacity, wasted licenses), pricing escalation tracking, lock-in cost analysis

CORE MODULES

Capability Readiness & Risk Assessment

Answers: Do you have the talent & systems to build in-house? What risks come with each option?
What it contains: Engineering capacity analysis (available FTE vs required FTE, skill gaps, hiring timeline), existing platform readiness (technical debt, scalability constraints), vendor dependency risk (concentration, exit costs, lock-in), in-house key person risk, time-to-market comparison (build timeline vs vendor implementation), regulatory and compliance readiness

Hybrid Model Optimization

Answers: What's the optimal mix of build and buy? Which capabilities should be in-house vs outsourced?
What it contains: Core vs non-core capability mapping (what creates competitive advantage vs commodity), cost-performance frontier (optimal allocation for target budget/quality), dynamic allocation modeling (when to shift between in-house and vendor)

Migration Economics & Timing Optimization

Answers: When should you switch from vendor to in-house (or vice versa)? What will it cost?
What it contains: Migration cost estimation (data migration, parallel running, testing, training), one-time transition costs vs ongoing savings, optimal timing triggers (volume thresholds, product maturity), productivity dip during transition, actual vs projected transition costs from past migrations, phased migration strategy modeling

ADVANCED MODULES