Most teams start this conversation with a product name. The useful conversation starts with the work: what is slow, what is duplicated, and what must stay under your control.
Buy when the process is standard and the tool will not force your team to invent a parallel workflow. Spreadsheets plus a generic CRM are a buy decision only if follow-up, ownership, and reporting already match how you sell.
Build when the process is the business. If routing, approvals, pricing, or inventory rules are unique, a packaged tool will make people work around it. Custom software is for the core loop, not for every adjacent form.
Automate after the path is stable. Automating a messy handoff freezes the mess. Map the steps, name the owner of each state, then automate the transfers that no longer need judgment.
A simple test: if a new hire cannot explain the current path on one page, do not buy a bigger platform yet. Diagnose the work first, then choose the smallest system that keeps that page true.
