Build vs. Buy and Conversational Engagement: The Ultimate Tip of the Iceberg Scenario

Digital Conversations

The debate whether it’s better for enterprises to build or buy business software has gone on for decades. As thousands of companies started investing in commercial software suites, an innovation curve was created that no single company could match. The emergence of cloud added economic and configuration benefits to software that few buyers could pass up. Today, it’s rare to see companies developing their own proprietary business software.

With a new class of conversational software beginning to take hold, a number of companies face the build-buy decision once again. The simplicity of language-based human-machine interactions implies that a bot toolkit and good writing skills is enough to successfully stand up an effective conversational front end. Conversational AI actually represents the ultimate tip of the iceberg scenario.

In this episode, Greg Johnsen and Greg Kefer cover the history and evolution of the build vs. buy debate and relate it to misperceptions about what is really required “below the waterline” to deliver an effective conversational experience with a consumer — one that considers flow patterns, persona, voice, agile development, journey mapping, and other design techniques that engage, satisfy, and deliver outcomes.