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Vendor & Technology Selection Tradeoffs
Evaluating build-vs-buy and vendor options against a customer's actual constraints, not feature checklists.
What it is
Technology and vendor selection weighs options against a customer's actual constraints (budget, team skills, existing stack, compliance needs) rather than which option has the longest feature list.
Key points
- Build vs. buy: buying is usually faster to value and lower initial cost; building offers more control and can be cheaper at scale — the crossover point depends heavily on the customer's specific volume and customization needs.
- Switching cost and lock-in: a proposal should be honest about how hard it would be to migrate away from a chosen vendor later — this is often the deciding factor in a customer's own risk assessment.
- Existing skills and stack: the objectively "best" technology is a worse choice than a good-enough one the customer's team can actually operate and support.
- A credible recommendation explicitly names the tradeoffs it's making, not just the option it's recommending — this is what builds a customer's trust in the recommendation.