If you’ve got problems, vendors have solutions. They even have solutions to problems you didn’t know you had, and they will be happy to sell them to you at a very unreasonable price. But let’s forget those kinds of solutions; let’s consider the situation where you have a real problem that you need to solve and decide the best path forward.

The classic dilemma when dealing with technology solutions is whether to build or buy. There are pros and cons to both — building gives you more control and can be completed incrementally, but it takes longer and requires maintenance. Purchasing a solution is an immediate cost and may not…