Build vs Buy: 10 Points You Need to Consider When It Comes to Complaints Management Software

So, you’ve determined your business needs a complaints management solution—now what?

Well, the next step usually involves deciding if there’s a system selection out there that’s right for you.

Understandably, many businesses are often concerned that a third-party solution will not be able to meet the unique needs of their company. So, instead, many organizations have traditionally invested large amounts of time and money into building custom, in-house applications in the hopes of solving their every requirement.

While it may seem like the only sure-fire way to ensure the specialized needs of your business are met, it can be a risky move. And it overlooks a number of fundamental areas where the benefits of buying a packaged solution vastly outweigh those of building and developing in-house.

Join us, as we take a look at the 10 key points you need to consider when asking: to build or to buy?

1. Proven and Measurable Benefits

You need a system with a tried and tested record of delivering benefits in key areas such as regulatory compliance, business improvement, productivity enhancement and increasing customer satisfaction. With a custom-made application, you’re starting from scratch so don’t have any of the ‘been there, done that’ confidence or benefit from any past learnings that would already be baked into the DNA of a packaged solution. 

2. Reduced Risk

After you’ve built your own system, there’s no protection if the code doesn’t work or can’t be configured how you need it to be further down the line. Time is money—and for large organizations, delays can mean millions in potential lost revenue. But, for a software vendor, maintaining and enhancing code is their bread and butter, so you can be protected from unexpected problems and ensure the solution grows with your business—without having to invest again and again in adjusting your own code.

3. Significantly Reduced Costs and Time Scales

You can buy, implement and have a complaints management system delivering business value in a fraction of the time it takes to design, code, document, train for and implement any additional configurations to your existing in-house system. In most cases, developing on top of an in-house system will be cost-prohibitive, time-consuming and difficult to implement. Statistics from the Standish Group show that an average internal build costs 189% of its initial estimate and takes 222% of the expected time—in other words, more than twice as long.

4. Day One Readiness

You want a system that’s continually updated, debugged and prepared, making it ready for your immediate use and delivering operational and revenue enhancing benefits in the shortest possible time. With an in-house product, your staff will often be testing and debugging the core solution and making updates on an ongoing basis meaning you can’t hit the ground running and ROI will take far longer to attain.

5. Future-Proofing

After installing complaints management software you’ll be provided with guaranteed access to patches, software updates, user groups, updated documentation and technical support to ensure your organization is kept up to date with changes in technology and current market requirements. Can your in-house developers commit the same level of resource on a long-term basis, or have they already moved on to the next project? What happens when a regulatory review changes your market?

6. Configuration

The right complaints management software can be easily configured to meet the unique requirements of your organization and is flexible enough to keep pace with your ever-changing business needs. Updating and further configuring an in-house product will take considerable time and money.

7. Scalability

With an in-house system, when you require an additional module, your developers have to go away and design, build and test it—creating a considerable delay. Instead, when you buy complaints management software that offers a modular product suite, you can add modules based upon your changing business requirements and budget, often by just purchasing a license. Also, you can start off small and add-on as needed, reaching an enterprise deployment with relative ease.

8. Knowledge and Experience

In a complex area like enterprise-wide complaint and feedback management, it pays to talk to the specialists. Selecting a vendor that has expert knowledge of feedback solutions and a deep understanding of what customers and users need in a package can be invaluable. In-house developers don’t always have this understanding and explaining it to them can be time consuming, costly and risky. So, you need a team of specialists in your corner that possess in-depth knowledge of business needs, compliance rules and common issues from working with customers across the industry.

9. High Quality Training and User Documentation

When buying a packaged solution, you’ll have access to advanced documentation and training that’s been proven over the course of many implementations. That’s just something you cannot achieve  with an in-house product. The right vendor will provide essential documentation that’s both technical and end-user oriented, and will always be on hand to train new staff, ensuring your solution is providing optimum value.

10. Support

Your in-house developers will typically support various systems and different areas of the business. When purchasing complaints management software, you can choose a provider that offers specialist help desk support so dedicated, expert advice is available.

While building a bespoke solution may still be the right choice for a limited number of organizations, it’s clear that purchasing proven complaints management software from an expert vendor not only removes a great deal of the risk, time and cost from your shoulders, but also brings extra benefits to the table as well.

So, what are the next steps?

If you’re ready to look for packaged complaints management software, then we can help.

Aptean has been working with the financial services industry for over 25 years. So, we understand the pressures you face and have helped many businesses like yours ensure high quality customer service while efficiently managing internal processes and complying with existing and emerging regulations.

Our complaints management software, Aptean Respond, has been finely tuned to address these very challenges, helping financial service organizations across the world better manage their entire complaint process.

If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you can check out the resources below. Or, if you’re ready to get ahead of the competition, you can get in touch with our complaints management software experts to book an Aptean Respond product demo.

• Buyer’s Guide for Australian Financial Services Organisations

• Four Steps to Choosing the Right Complaint Management Solution for Your Business

• How the Right Complaint Management Strategy Can Transform Your CX Capability