Build Or Buy Your Recurring Billing Software:  5 Things To Consider

You've hit a breaking point with your current billing system. Whether you've outgrown it or are tired of manual entries, it's time for a change. Billing is crucial for smooth business operations, and you have two options: build an in-house system or buy from a vendor. Considerations include time and cost savings, risks, long-term suitability, and customer experience. Let's explore these factors in detail to determine the best solution for your needs.

1. Cost

Building a recurring billing platform from scratch involves significant expenses, including high salaries for software developers, ongoing maintenance, application testing, support, security, and upgrades. These costs can quickly add up.

In contrast, licensing a third-party billing service can be more cost-effective, as the provider handles development and maintenance, charging a predictable fee. This approach allows for better budget planning and resource allocation, making it a wiser investment to purchase a flexible, robust billing system and use the savings to enhance your product or marketing efforts.

2. Maintenance

Creating in-house billing software ensures it meets your specific needs without back-and-forth with third parties. However, it requires significant ongoing investment and risks losing critical knowledge if developers leave. Opt for a billing service provider with extensive experience in complex billing scenarios and a dedicated support team.

This choice alleviates pressure on your billing team, ensuring continuous support and efficient issue management, allowing you to focus on other tasks and improve overall efficiency.

3. Development Time

Building a recurring billing system from scratch is time-consuming and requires extensive testing to avoid bugs, potentially taking years. This timeline is impractical for shorter go-to-market strategies.

Buying a billing solution, on the other hand, primarily involves selecting and evaluating the right provider. A reliable billing provider ensures a seamless onboarding and integration process, significantly reducing the time to launch.

4. Scope

Building a billing system risks scope creep, budget overruns, and extended deadlines. A Harvard Business Review study found average IT project overruns of 27%, with some projects exceeding costs by 200% and schedules by 70%. When building in-house, you're responsible for managing the launch, integrations, training, security, compliance, and new functionality, requiring significant bandwidth or additional staff. In contrast, buying a billing solution can be implemented in a few months, offering a more predictable and efficient alternative.

5. Risks

Building your own billing system poses significant risks, especially if you lack technological expertise. Ensuring safety, security, upgrades, and PCI compliance for recurring payments can be challenging. You’ll need to prepare servers, manage security, and handle complex tasks like re-rating, taxing, and validation.

In-house development requires hiring dedicated staff for maintenance and upgrades, increasing costs and time investment. While custom features might seem necessary, providers like LogiSense offer advanced, customizable billing solutions with extensive experience and best practices, mitigating these risks effectively.

Build vs Buy

Building an in-house billing system might seem appealing, especially for tech companies, as it allows customization. However, consider if your developers' time is better spent on core products. Maintaining and updating the system as you scale can be challenging.

Building requires extensive documentation and stakeholder agreement, integration with third-party software, and compliance with international laws and regulations, including data sovereignty. The complexity and cost are high, and your needs may evolve faster than the solution.

Instead, leverage existing market solutions, developed and maintained by experts, allowing you to focus on your core business.

Choose LogiSense for a Configurable No Code/Low Code Billing Solution

LogiSense’s flexible usage and subscription billing platform meets complex billing needs without the burden of building from scratch. As an API-driven cloud platform, it offers no-code/low-code configurations and Automation Workflows, allowing seamless integration and automation of business rules. This infinitely configurable solution adapts to your evolving business needs, providing the benefits of customizability with the convenience of off-the-shelf software.

Contact LogiSense’s billing experts today to learn more and take a test drive.