Speaker 0: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to MaDreaming day two. Hope you had a awesome time with that panel, um, that we just had for the opening keynote. Um, today, we’ve got a session, um, with Philip. Um, he’s gonna go over the two main questions I think we always ask ourselves or have asked at some point in our lives, builder by, agency or ISB. Um, if you guys do have any questions during the session, you’ll see a q and a tab. Go ahead and put them in there. We’re gonna try to have some time at the end, um, to be able to open up some questions for Philip. Um, so with that, Philip, I’ll let you take it away.

Speaker 1: Fantastic. Thank you so much, uh, Sarah. And you can hear me loud and clear, I assume. So testing, uh, testing was successful. So hi, everyone. Uh, I’m Philip Schweitzer. I’m cofounder and CEO at SalesWings. We’re a certified marketing cloud ISV partner. And I thought when I thought about the good topic for this event, I felt, well, build or buy is such an important question, uh, and it’s such a a daunting question as well in certain moments, uh, that every, you know, customer or company should really consider whenever they are approaching a new, uh, a new project. So let’s, uh, get started here.

So firstly, quick thanks also from my side to to all the sponsors making this event possible. It’s fantastic to have these events, uh, to bring the ecosystem together, um, and particular thanks to, uh, Sirkanthi and Sarah as well for all the support around this, uh, this session. So, uh, very briefly about myself so you understand a little bit where my experience comes from, uh, linked to these, uh, tips that I’ll able, uh, be able to share today. So, uh, I’m cofounder and CEO at Saleswings, as I mentioned. Uh, so we’re a Salesforce ISV, and we augment the Salesforce Marketing Cloud with essential b two b capabilities. So Marketing Cloud, um, traditionally, um, been built for b two c. So here, of course, we’re talking about exact target. Salesforce will complement that with the kind of Marketo type, part of type b two b capabilities. So I have founded or cofounded and, uh, run this company so far, uh, and I have about ten years of experience in the Salesforce and marketing cloud ecosystem. Uh, I also have quite a bit of experience selecting and implementing off the shelf platforms, uh, maintaining them, um, etcetera. So let’s say buying. Uh, and then I’m running a product team here and the engineering team, uh, for the past, uh, eight years, in fact. So I do have also experience building software, uh, know some of the pitfalls and the things to watch out for. Um, Yeah. About me. So, well, I’m a father of three. Um, I love Swiss chocolate. I live here in Switzerland and, uh, hopefully, look forward to meeting some of you in person on day possibly at, uh, Chicago next year. So let’s get to it. So first, a quick introduction to, uh, build or buy. So should I build or should I buy? And then I wanted to present you some of the pros and cons of both of these approaches, uh, and then give you also some tips around the marketing cloud ISV ecosystem and the app exchange, uh, very briefly, and we’ll conclude and hopefully have some time for questions.

So should I build or should I buy? Um, you may have many of you, in fact, may have, uh, faced a situation in the past where you have, uh, identified a pain point or a problem in your business. Uh, you have found, uh, an opportunity to enhance, uh, an existing process, uh, around the marketing cloud or, uh, where something needs, uh, you know, typically optimization. Um, so from my experience talking to, uh, organizations, uh, around the globe, so we do work, uh, globally, uh, with companies in many different, uh, industries. We engage, uh, agencies on the one hand. We engage corporations. So you have, uh, typically four options here. So status quo. So you cannot do anything about it, um, typically, if it’s not a, uh, a big priority for you. You can buy an off the shelf, uh, solution. So you can buy a software, uh, which eventually does what you want it to do, and it solves it well. Or you can build, uh, a, um, a solution or software or integration yourself. And, of course, then there’s also the hybrid approach, uh, where you’re going to say, uh, well, we’re gonna possibly take some existing functionality in marketing cloud or an existing tool we have, and we’re gonna code on top of that, possibly open source.

Uh, and a few examples just to start with. So think about web forms. So many companies, when they start working with marketing cloud, they have a range of different types of web forms, critical process to get these leads or subscribers into marketing cloud. So you could replace these forms with marketing cloud forms. You uh, could just build integrations between these form vendors and the marketing cloud, or you could replace them altogether with a a marketing cloud ISV solution. Another example, so, of course, in our context, um, you have possibly need to qualify leads, uh, which is not native functionality in marketing cloud. Uh, you can for lead scoring, so you could customize, um, Salesforce marketing cloud Einstein. To a certain extent, you could go with a, uh, with an ISV, or maybe you just wanna add a add a channel, uh, to the mix, um, and be able to maybe, uh, engage buyers on on on TikTok. So, typically, uh, there’s many situations where, uh, you have this situation, um, and the very first recommendation is always consider both options. Always look at building it and buying it, uh, and weigh the benefits, um, uh, the pros and cons of both against each other.

Now how can you go about this decision? So as a team, internally, and often these teams, uh, are are cross functional, uh, you wanna start thinking about, uh, uh, what is the problem? Uh, how is how big is that problem, and how will the solution need to evolve? So what is the problem? So I feel this is a super important point to stress. Uh, where does the problem come from? We have situations when we speak to clients and they have some existing solution, in fact, that they’re not using properly. So they’re trying to replace what they have with, uh, with a newer, better solution or even a customization, but in fact, it’s not a tool problem. It may be a process problem. It may be a knowledge problem, uh, or a training problem, um, beyond, of course, uh, clearly understanding then the, uh, the actual issue that you may be facing. So and how big is that problem? So it is essential that you try to quantify the impact of a process that you want to enhance or a issue you’re trying to solve. So uh, an integration, so between two different systems. What will I benefit from that, but what’s the impact today? And that will really allow you also to understand how much resources are you able to invest into either a customization that you’re doing internally or with an agency, uh, or how much are you gonna be able to spend on a a ISV? So how big of a problem is that, uh, is that really?

Furthermore, and that I would say is one of the most important ones is think ahead and how your solution will have to evolve. Um, whether you are so let’s say you’re considering buying a software. You wanna be clear about the must haves today and the must haves tomorrow. So the must haves have to be part of the software that you’re buying. But if you are aware and you know that your business will evolve, uh, in a specific direction in the future, um, maybe it will be growing, maybe, um, uh, you know of additional complexities coming up, you wanna make sure that the software you’re buying has that uh, flexibility over time. Otherwise, you’re quickly running into into roadblock. On the custom development side, this is equally important. Most important, uh, most importantly, this will have a large impact on the cost of custom development. So software development, of course, is complex and over time, uh, can be growing cost. Uh, but there is a cost to every little functionality you’re building, not just building it but maintaining it, um, and that can effectively go out of hand. Uh, so this is, uh, this is really key that you think, uh, in the future.

Uh, another question, of course, as you’re looking to ask yourself build or buy is how unique is this problem really that I have? So it may be that you’re in a specific industry and the way you operate in the company is very, very unique, which in fact is rarely the case, uh, but it could be. Um, well, having a unique problem may in fact be a justification to go for, uh, a custom, uh, a custom solution. Uh, but it may well be that there is it’s a problem you’re trying to solve which has been solved by other companies. So do research, uh, and think about, uh, well, how how how have others, uh, solved this problem. Are there specialized software vendors as well that, um, have that are solving this with subject matter expertise that is built into this, uh, this ISV or this software company. Uh, so that is definitely a key question. The other, uh, one, of course, is time to value or time to solving this problem. Is it very urgent, uh, or or not? Do we have time to, um, to solve this, uh, problem, etcetera? And then also and that’s very specifically, uh, are there synergies with our strategic mission? So think about, uh, AWS. So it’s not in the concept of marketing cloud, but AWS is an ecommerce company, uh, or WaaS to start with. Because they had the strong need for servers, uh, and managing load and all of this, they decided, well, we’re gonna be able to save costs by building our own server centers, which today has turned into a very important, uh, business branch, uh, of AWS.

Um, so I wanted to give you a couple of, uh, examples, uh, a little bit abstract here, but consider the family, uh, this family, and they need a car. Uh, well, how big is that problem? Well, it is a big problem because the car car broke down, and they live in a, live in a remote area. Uh, how unique is their problem? Well, not so much because there’s a lot of families out there that need cars. There’s a lot of cars available in the market as well, um, and they do need to click it. Uh, they need they do need to, uh, fix it very, very fast, uh, as well. And how will that, uh, solution need to evolve? Well, mildly, maybe just another family member are gonna be showing up, but that may not be a a problem. Um, and how is this aligned with the strategic mission? Well, we’re we this is not a racing car family, so they’re gonna buy, uh, gonna buy a car. And on the other hand, consider that. So the other extreme is NASA. Well, NASA needs a car, and, uh, the the need is, uh, definitely large. Um, and how unique is it? Well, it’s rather unique because you you need the car to run on on on the moon or, uh, or on Mars. And then how quickly does that problem need to be solved? Well, there is no large urgency. Right? So NASA will have maybe a decade to, uh, to to build a car and, uh, make it work for for the requirement. Solution design will constantly evolve. There’s definitely it’s hard to anticipate, uh, if the existing rover, uh, whatever they have is gonna work out, uh, and it’s, uh, essentially strategic to to their mission. So they’re gonna build, uh, their own, uh, their own car for for Mars.

Now let’s have a look at some of the pros and cons here, and let’s start with, uh, building. So software and customization that you build is made for you. So if you have any unique needs that you cannot find in the market off the shelf, well, building is definitely, uh, an option to to look at. So there’s uniqueness. Uh, it’ll give you a competitive advantage, uh, by solving this for you. Uh, so that’s, uh, one of the largest benefits you have. It will also give you flexibility over time. So if you know that this software will have to grow, uh, but you’re not a 100% sure to what extent, well, uh, custom build is you can always build on top of that. Uh, now do consider that adding functionality in software development is not straightforward. It’s not as easy as turning on a feature. Uh, so the flexibility is there, um, but it can be costly and hard to, uh, hard to anticipate. Um, and finally then, one of the big pros is, well, it’s it’s yours. So there is an element of IP, uh, of course, if it’s something that you could resell or that is strategic, uh, that will really give you a competitive edge. But you also have control over this customization, uh, which means that there’s no don’t there’s no risk that, um, you know, you’re gonna just turn off a feature. Marketing cloud has retired. Uh, Microsoft Dynamics, um, existing software companies can retire functionality here and there, and you don’t you can’t control this. And you can’t just ask these, uh, companies to, um, build some functionality for you, uh, either.

Now on the cons and I think this is important. So there are, of course, quick solutions, quick integrations, uh, quick things you can build as well. Generally, if you have a broader need, a customization will almost always cost you more than an off the shelf, uh, platform. So there’s a cost, uh, of building it. There is, you know, internal resources that are focusing essentially on something that may not be strategic, so they’re working, uh, sort of on the business and not in the business, um, and the cost is, uh, is is a risk, especially as it evolves. The other thing is if you have a need to, uh, quickly go to market, so a customization may just take a little bit longer. Uh, and depending on where you do your research, at 50% of IT projects, I have to claim at 70, just take much longer than, uh, it is anticipated because it’s hard. Uh, there’s things, roadblocks on the way, and, uh, planning is a challenge. So if you have a clear timeline when you need something, a customization may be, uh, or custom build may be a risk. And then, uh, there’s also a a life cycle, uh, risks that you have to be aware of when you customize. So when you work with an agency or you’re doing something, uh, internally, there are developers and team members attached to this project, uh, and they may leave. So building and running a software and maintaining a software, there’s a lot of knowledge retention that you need to manage. Uh, so over time, this creates the dependencies on people, uh, and it can just happen that, uh, you may turn off a, uh, a customization.

Now let’s quickly stay with the cons, but we’re gonna move over now to to the buy, uh, to the buying situation. Now buying software and evaluating software is actually quite hard. Uh, if you think about the marketing technology space where Salesforce is in, uh, there’s over 8,000 software out there. Many of them resemble a little bit. They make promises at times, which, uh, may be misunderstood or unclear, and it’s generally hard. Hence, the importance of being very, very clear about, uh, the needs and the requirements, uh, that you that you have.

Um, and by the way, so you can easily start with a with a spreadsheet. So I assume this is, uh, really small, uh, but you could list all your requirements, already a must have, must be solved today, must be solved tomorrow. Um, you know, think about this uniqueness and urgency and all that. And, also, at SalesWings, we have a decision matrix, uh, that we use whenever we actually when we have decided we’re gonna buy, uh, a new software. Uh, what we are doing here and this is an example of, um, of help desks that we had evaluated. Uh, so I’ve hidden, uh, hidden the vendors here. But we in fact, we listed all the requirements that we’ve had. Uh, we also, uh, gave it a, uh, a rank, how important this is for us. Is it nice to have, must have, uh, etcetera? Um, to what extent did each vendor meet this particular need? And then we have a balanced score, uh, score at the top. So this is a way, uh, build them a decision matrix, a requirements matrix, and you will be able to offset some of the risks, uh, right there.

Uh, longevity also. So when you buy, uh, you may not often know how your uh, needs are are truly evolving. Uh, so, of course, you have to always find a good balance between selecting a software vendor that will do well what you need today and then give you the rec the the necessary flexibility moving forward. But finally, um, that comes with a cost. Flexibility comes with a cost. If you invest into a platform, uh, you will you will pay for functionality that you’re not using, uh, just because it makes the software more expensive. Uh, so it’s a bit of a balancing a balancing act, uh, but, of course, software vendor will not just build five features for you if they become a must have all of a sudden, hence, again, the importance to to plan. Uh, now controlling, uh, controlling here as well. So, um, what if, uh, they remove a feature? Uh, so I gave I gave the example of marketing cloud that retires functionality at times like all the vendors do. Uh, so this is, of course, a a risk. Actually, at SalesWings, we had recently used the software. They removed the key integration. Um, we, uh, we were left to that. So, uh, uh, that’s it’s just a risk that you, uh, have to take at, uh, certain moments.

Now on the pros, so, um, when you buy a software, you benefit from all the investment that has already gone into the, uh, software. So software companies, they build software. They enhance them constantly. And at times, over a decade, over two, uh, two decades, reducing the some of the operational, uh, maintenance risks tremendously for you. Uh, think about Salesforce. You can buy a license for, let’s say, a $100, $150 a month, uh, and you’re getting a software where billions of investments has have gone into it. Uh, good software will also come with subject matter expertise built in, so they should have a strong, uh, knowledge of the problem they’re solving. So this, uh, you can find out when you speak to them and, of course, also when you read about their, um, reads on their blog and the white papers, uh, etcetera. But, uh, essentially, this is a big benefit as you benefit from a large investment that has been has been done. The other element is speed to value. So it is essential, um, essentially the fact that most often you will be faster, uh, uh, to market, I guess, with the software than if you custom build it. So that may not be a requirement. Of course, other factors may be, uh, maybe more important. Uh, but time has a value, especially when you know and you quantified well the impact of, uh, of an issue. So that is, um, is an important, uh, important element. Uh, cost control as well. Uh, licensing costs tend to be more predictable, uh, than than custom development, uh, custom development cost.

So, um, we’re almost done. Um, we’re gonna have some time for some q and a. Now yeah. So when you come across a challenge or an opportunity and all of that, consider your options, build or buy. On the buying side, there is the Salesforce AppExchange for those that are not familiar with it. So there’s a few dozen, um, there are a few dozen ISVs that are certified, uh, by Salesforce. So an ISV being certified means that Salesforce has done a security check. They’ve done compliance checks. Uh, they test the integrations. They test, um, they they they will actually also validate that it’s adding value to the, uh, to the ecosystem. So not everybody can become an ISV.

Um, now let’s just start with the the sponsors here of this great event. Uh, so we have a PFL, so you can send direct email straight from the journey, uh, journey builder, uh, which is a great, uh, a great add on, of course. Custom building would be, uh, rather hard.

Uh, stencil here. So possibly you’re uh, have complex emails you need to, uh, create or a lot of them and they’re, um, you know, you wanna have scalability in that process. Uh, also building landing pages that maybe are more flexible and versatile than what’s out of the box with marketing cloud. Instead of customizing and building, uh, that and, uh, well, you could go with a solution like, uh, Stencil.

CCM, another example, and I guess these examples are just to show you also there is a a a wide array of, uh, ISVs out there. CGM has built a TikTok integration. That’s really great. So you can engage buyers on an, uh, on an additional channel.

Uh, we’ve talked about sales wings. So if you’re, uh, uh, have a need for b two b, there’s a sales team involved, uh, ExactTarget or Salesforce Marketing Cloud, uh, is not sufficient. Well, Saleswing is a great add on, uh, here for sales insights, uh, CRM integration, lead scoring, etcetera.

Uh, and the final one is Deselect. So Deselect is also an interesting tool, um, allows you to build audiences flexibly without coding, uh, so possibly allowing you to build, uh, audiences faster, uh, more independently, uh, from internal resources or external resources. So so there are a lot of them, uh, out there.

In conclusion, um, analyze your needs really well. Think about today, but do think ahead as well. So whether you’re gonna, uh, you know, pay an agency or hire somebody to do something custom, uh, or you’re choosing a software, there are implications of that. Always consider both. So building it, buying it is key. Status quo, at times, is, um, the easy option, um, but not always not always an option. Uh, there’s also that hybrid approach. You take existing functionality and you customize it, or you take an open source solution, uh, and then you, uh, tweak it to your to your needs. And then, of course, evaluate these risks. Uh, evaluate the different risks that come and, uh, go, uh, go with it. Um, and, uh, finally, do talk to the to your agency, talk to the community, do do a good background, uh, research, and don’t make your decisions, uh, in the corner. Okay. Fantastic. So, um, let’s connect on LinkedIn. You can scan this, uh, QR code, this this massive QR code here. Uh, just wanna make sure you can, uh, see it. Uh, and we can, uh, go to some q and a for the last minutes. Um, so I just have to find the list.

Speaker 0: Yes. If you guys have any questions for Philip, um, there’s a q and a tab. Um, go ahead and add some questions in there, um, and we will have about five minutes here to discuss. Philip, those spreadsheets, I think, are an absolute game changer. Uh, the one question I have is, are you willing to share those with, um, the audience here? I feel like those are everyone gets stuck, I think, when they’re evaluating these decisions, and, um, there’s a lot more. It’s not typically one department it falls in. It falls across multiple departments. So being able to get insights across teams and being able to score, um, different requirements and needs, I think not only just, you know, sums all that up like you’ve done with all the math to give, like, scores across the board, but I think it also helps with just buy in across the team for them to understand that final decision and just, um, get everybody on the same page for that.

Speaker 1: Right. Absolutely. More than happy to, um, to share these these templates here. Uh, I think important is really when you approach the question to be very, uh, to be very open about both, uh, both options. And, uh, also, of course so, you know, Sercante, I know, is a fantastic agency. I think a good agency, uh, will also just try to show you, you know, both, uh, both benefits, uh, both benefits of of that. Um, but, uh, one thing that I may wanna mention, this is more more, uh, relevant if you have inter internal software development teams. You have internally very technical people. Uh, so, of course, that will make it easier, um, to go for a build approach, um, but there’s also a, um, seduction to build. So building stuff is actually very is is is a lot of fun. Uh, and specifically, creative developers and strong developers, they’re inclined to build stuff that already exists out there. Uh, so, uh, I don’t wanna say be careful. There’s, as I said, hopefully, in a neutral way, there’s often good reasons for that. But, um, yeah, just some additional thoughts. And, yes, more than happy to, uh, share, uh, share those resources.

Speaker 0: Awesome.

Speaker 1: Okay. Um,

Speaker 0: it doesn’t look like we have any other additional q and a. Give it one more minute here. Any other words of wisdom, departing thoughts for us, Philip?

Speaker 1: No. I think I’ve said the the most important feedback, so it’s great. So, uh, anybody connecting with me, let me know if this was helpful or not. Uh, as I said, do connect. Uh, look forward to meeting some of you. And, um, yeah, that’s, uh, that’s that. And thanks, uh, again, uh, to you, uh, and and and, sir, Conte. Uh, it’s a great event, and appreciate being able to be here.

Speaker 0: Yes. Um, thanks for joining us, um, and thanks for joining us everybody else. Um, the next session will be starting in about a minute. Thanks, guys.

Speaker 1: Okay. Bye bye.