Let’s Architect! Understanding the build versus buy dilemma

{"value":"Vendor lock in happens when you commit to a specific technology and then don’t have the freedom to maintain full control of your applications. Even if you want to switch to another vendor, it’s not easy because of the financial investment, effort, and time needed to do so.\n\nIn the cloud computing, technology changes quickly, and vendor lock in can impact your business objectives. In this edition of Let’s Architect!, we show you how to avoid the risks of vendor lock in and examine when you should build or buy new software.\n\n\n#### **[Buy vs. Build Revisited: 3 Traps to Avoid](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/enterprise-strategy/revisiting-buy-vs-build-3-traps-to-avoid/)**\n\n\nIn this blog post, Gregor Hohpe shares some tips on how to avoid risks of vendor lock in. He advises to “build the software that differentiates your business and buy all else” and shows you how opportunity cost, an economic concept, plays major role in whether to build or buy software.\n\n[](https://d2908q01vomqb2.cloudfront.net/fc074d501302eb2b93e2554793fcaf50b3bf7291/2022/06/29/money-man.jpg)\n\n\n#### **[Time to Rethink Build vs Buy](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/enterprise-strategy/time-to-rethink-build-vs-buy/)**\n\n\nWhich is the right option for your business: build or buy? Customers often ask this question. The answer is: it depends.\n\nMoving to the cloud does not necessarily mean you are locked in to a cloud provider. Most cloud platforms offer you a pay as-you-go model with the flexibility to choose from a wide range of services and solutions such as serverless, DevOps, etc. However, having advanced and scalable technology products powering your business can help differentiate your core product. And, it can help you innovate faster and increase speed and agility. This blog post will help you choose the right path for you based on your business objectives.\n\n[](https://d2908q01vomqb2.cloudfront.net/fc074d501302eb2b93e2554793fcaf50b3bf7291/2022/06/29/lego.jpg)\n\n\n#### **[Switching Costs and Lock-In](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/enterprise-strategy/switching-costs-and-lock-in/)**\n\n\nIn this blog post, Mark Schwartz shares his personal story. He talks about his role as the CIO of US Citizenship and Immigration Services and how he decided to migrate their workloads to the cloud during his time there. He discusses some of his considerations in moving and some of the obstacles he encountered along the way.\n\n[](https://d2908q01vomqb2.cloudfront.net/fc074d501302eb2b93e2554793fcaf50b3bf7291/2022/06/29/lock.jpg)\n\n\n#### **See you next time!**\n\n\nThanks for reading! See you in a couple of weeks when we discuss DevOps.\n\n\n#### **Other posts in this series**\n\n\n- [Let’s Architect! Using open-source technologies on AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-using-open-source-technologies-on-aws/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Architecting for Sustainability](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-1-architecture-and-sustainability/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Architecting for Machine Learning](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/architecting-for-machine-learning/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Architecting for Security](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-for-security/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Tools for Cloud Architects](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-tools-for-cloud-architects/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Architecting for Blockchain](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-for-blockchain/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Architecting microservices with containers](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-microservices-with-containers/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Serverless architecture on AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-serverless-architecture-on-aws/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Creating resilient architecture](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-creating-resilient-architecture/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Architecting for governance and management](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-for-governance-and-management/)\n- [Let’s Architect! Architecting for front end](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-for-governance-and-management/)\n\n\n\n\n\n#### **Luca Mezzalira**\n\n\nLuca is Principal Solutions Architect based in London. He has authored several books and is an international speaker. He lent his expertise predominantly in the solution architecture field. Luca has gained accolades for revolutionizing the scalability of front-end architectures with micro-frontends, from increasing the efficiency of workflows, to delivering quality in products.\n\n\n\n\n#### **Laura Hyatt**\n\n\nLaura Hyatt is a Solutions Architect for AWS Public Sector and helps Education customers in the UK. Laura helps customers not only architect and develop scalable solutions but also think big on innovative solutions facing the education sector at present. Laura's specialty is IoT, and she is also the Alexa SME for Education across EMEA.\n\n\n\n\n#### **Vittorio Denti**\n\n\nVittorio Denti is a Solutions Architect at AWS based in London. After completing his M.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering at Politecnico di Milano (Milan) and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm), he joined AWS. Vittorio has a background in Distributed Systems and Machine Learning, and a strong interest in cloud technologies. He’s especially passionate for software engineering, building ML solutions, and putting ML into production.\n\n\n\n\n#### **Zamira Jaupaj**\n\n\nZamira is an Enterprise Solutions Architect based in the Netherlands. She is highly passionate IT professional with over 10 years of multi-national experience in designing and implementing critical and complex solutions with containers, serverless, and data analytics for small and enterprise companies.","render":"<p>Vendor lock in happens when you commit to a specific technology and then don’t have the freedom to maintain full control of your applications. Even if you want to switch to another vendor, it’s not easy because of the financial investment, effort, and time needed to do so.</p>\n<p>In the cloud computing, technology changes quickly, and vendor lock in can impact your business objectives. In this edition of Let’s Architect!, we show you how to avoid the risks of vendor lock in and examine when you should build or buy new software.</p>\n<h4><a id=\"Buy_vs_Build_Revisited_3_Traps_to_Avoidhttpsawsamazoncomblogsenterprisestrategyrevisitingbuyvsbuild3trapstoavoid_5\"></a><strong><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/enterprise-strategy/revisiting-buy-vs-build-3-traps-to-avoid/\" target=\"_blank\">Buy vs. Build Revisited: 3 Traps to Avoid</a></strong></h4>\n<p>In this blog post, Gregor Hohpe shares some tips on how to avoid risks of vendor lock in. He advises to “build the software that differentiates your business and buy all else” and shows you how opportunity cost, an economic concept, plays major role in whether to build or buy software.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://d2908q01vomqb2.cloudfront.net/fc074d501302eb2b93e2554793fcaf50b3bf7291/2022/06/29/money-man.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"https://dev-media.amazoncloud.cn/e50b551225d8440ea08980f622396298_image.png\" alt=\"image.png\" /></a></p>\n<h4><a id=\"Time_to_Rethink_Build_vs_Buyhttpsawsamazoncomblogsenterprisestrategytimetorethinkbuildvsbuy_13\"></a><strong><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/enterprise-strategy/time-to-rethink-build-vs-buy/\" target=\"_blank\">Time to Rethink Build vs Buy</a></strong></h4>\n<p>Which is the right option for your business: build or buy? Customers often ask this question. The answer is: it depends.</p>\n<p>Moving to the cloud does not necessarily mean you are locked in to a cloud provider. Most cloud platforms offer you a pay as-you-go model with the flexibility to choose from a wide range of services and solutions such as serverless, DevOps, etc. However, having advanced and scalable technology products powering your business can help differentiate your core product. And, it can help you innovate faster and increase speed and agility. This blog post will help you choose the right path for you based on your business objectives.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://d2908q01vomqb2.cloudfront.net/fc074d501302eb2b93e2554793fcaf50b3bf7291/2022/06/29/lego.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"https://dev-media.amazoncloud.cn/c9e0e1f8150c4fcb9ed81e4a063af35d_image.png\" alt=\"image.png\" /></a></p>\n<h4><a id=\"Switching_Costs_and_LockInhttpsawsamazoncomblogsenterprisestrategyswitchingcostsandlockin_23\"></a><strong><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/enterprise-strategy/switching-costs-and-lock-in/\" target=\"_blank\">Switching Costs and Lock-In</a></strong></h4>\n<p>In this blog post, Mark Schwartz shares his personal story. He talks about his role as the CIO of US Citizenship and Immigration Services and how he decided to migrate their workloads to the cloud during his time there. He discusses some of his considerations in moving and some of the obstacles he encountered along the way.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://d2908q01vomqb2.cloudfront.net/fc074d501302eb2b93e2554793fcaf50b3bf7291/2022/06/29/lock.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"https://dev-media.amazoncloud.cn/77409eed869b4330a4837f84135ecf6a_image.png\" alt=\"image.png\" /></a></p>\n<h4><a id=\"See_you_next_time_31\"></a><strong>See you next time!</strong></h4>\n<p>Thanks for reading! See you in a couple of weeks when we discuss DevOps.</p>\n<h4><a id=\"Other_posts_in_this_series_37\"></a><strong>Other posts in this series</strong></h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-using-open-source-technologies-on-aws/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Using open-source technologies on AWS</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-1-architecture-and-sustainability/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Architecting for Sustainability</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/architecting-for-machine-learning/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Architecting for Machine Learning</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-for-security/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Architecting for Security</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-tools-for-cloud-architects/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Tools for Cloud Architects</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-for-blockchain/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Architecting for Blockchain</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-microservices-with-containers/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Architecting microservices with containers</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-serverless-architecture-on-aws/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Serverless architecture on AWS</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-creating-resilient-architecture/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Creating resilient architecture</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-for-governance-and-management/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Architecting for governance and management</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecting-for-governance-and-management/\" target=\"_blank\">Let’s Architect! Architecting for front end</a></li>\n</ul>\n<p><img src=\"https://dev-media.amazoncloud.cn/80abf2c895364c998aca9ceb5f42c09c_image.png\" alt=\"image.png\" /></p>\n<h4><a id=\"Luca_Mezzalira_56\"></a><strong>Luca Mezzalira</strong></h4>\n<p>Luca is Principal Solutions Architect based in London. He has authored several books and is an international speaker. He lent his expertise predominantly in the solution architecture field. Luca has gained accolades for revolutionizing the scalability of front-end architectures with micro-frontends, from increasing the efficiency of workflows, to delivering quality in products.</p>\n<p><img src=\"https://dev-media.amazoncloud.cn/5baf4130f88f4696b532cedf0b1be036_image.png\" alt=\"image.png\" /></p>\n<h4><a id=\"Laura_Hyatt_64\"></a><strong>Laura Hyatt</strong></h4>\n<p>Laura Hyatt is a Solutions Architect for AWS Public Sector and helps Education customers in the UK. Laura helps customers not only architect and develop scalable solutions but also think big on innovative solutions facing the education sector at present. Laura’s specialty is IoT, and she is also the Alexa SME for Education across EMEA.</p>\n<p><img src=\"https://dev-media.amazoncloud.cn/d642df6ec4254335b23981629ffb1941_image.png\" alt=\"image.png\" /></p>\n<h4><a id=\"Vittorio_Denti_72\"></a><strong>Vittorio Denti</strong></h4>\n<p>Vittorio Denti is a Solutions Architect at AWS based in London. After completing his M.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering at Politecnico di Milano (Milan) and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm), he joined AWS. Vittorio has a background in Distributed Systems and Machine Learning, and a strong interest in cloud technologies. He’s especially passionate for software engineering, building ML solutions, and putting ML into production.</p>\n<p><img src=\"https://dev-media.amazoncloud.cn/028d894bcb6b494d99e0d8e30788afd4_image.png\" alt=\"image.png\" /></p>\n<h4><a id=\"Zamira_Jaupaj_80\"></a><strong>Zamira Jaupaj</strong></h4>\n<p>Zamira is an Enterprise Solutions Architect based in the Netherlands. She is highly passionate IT professional with over 10 years of multi-national experience in designing and implementing critical and complex solutions with containers, serverless, and data analytics for small and enterprise companies.</p>\n"}