Should we build integrations or buy a platform?

Build where the logic is specific to your business and gives you an advantage. Buy where it is a standard interface everyone needs, such as EDI transaction sets, marketplace feeds, or carrier rating. Built integrations carry permanent maintenance as every endpoint on both sides keeps changing.

The cost that gets left out is upkeep. A connector written once is rewritten every time a partner revises its API or a retailer updates its specification, and that work never appears in the original estimate.

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