So, you have decided you need to bring AI into your business. That is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out how. Do you try to build a custom solution yourself? Do you let your team use a collection of cheap, standalone AI tools? Or do you invest in a dedicated platform?
This is the classic "build vs. buy vs. assemble" dilemma, and it is one of the most important strategic decisions you will make. To help you choose the right path, we have created an honest, balanced comparison of the three main options, measured against the factors that truly matter for your business.
The idea of a completely custom, in-house AI platform is tempting. In theory, it gives you total control.
The Pros: You can build it to your exact specifications.
The Cons: The reality is that this path is only viable for a tiny fraction of companies. It requires a massive upfront investment, often running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. It takes many months, if not years, to build. And it demands a team of highly specialised and expensive AI talent to create and maintain it. For most businesses, the cost and timeline make it an impossible challenge.
At the other end of the spectrum is the "assemble" approach: letting your team use various standalone AI tools for writing, image creation, or research.
The Pros: The initial cost seems low, and the tools are easy to start using.
The Cons: This approach is a minefield of risks. Your company data is not secure, as it is being fed into public models. Workflows are fragmented across different apps, leading to inefficiency. The quality of the output is inconsistent, and there is no central way to manage or govern its use. It might seem cheap, but the hidden costs of security risks and lost productivity are enormous.
This is the "buy" option, but with a difference. We designed strutoAI to give you the best of both worlds: the power and security of a private, customisable platform, but without the extreme cost, risk, and timeline of building it yourself. It provides a secure, unified workspace where your team can leverage the power of AI safely and efficiently.
Let’s see how the three options stack up head-to-head.
As the table shows, building in-house is too slow and expensive for most, while using standalone tools is too risky and chaotic. strutoAI offers the most logical and strategic balance: the security, power, and scalability your business needs, delivered quickly and with a predictable investment.
If you would like to discuss how strutoAI could fit into your specific technology stack, book a free consultation with one of our advisors.