The Third Option

The Third Option

Aloha Legends,

You all know the scene. A steering committee meeting, digital transformation on the agenda, and someone drops the inevitable question: "Should we build or buy?"

Cue the spreadsheets. Vendor evaluation matrices. Requirements gathering sessions that stretch for months. Integration specialists who speak fluent acronym. Procurement cycles that outlive the original business problem.

And there it is, the most expensive, least effective playbook in enterprise software just got triggered.

For decades, we've lived with two options: build or buy software.

Build meant months of planning, teams of developers, and crossing your fingers that requirements wouldn't change. Buy meant compromise—finding software that did 70% of what you needed, bending your processes to fit the rest, then finding implementation specialists who'd spend 18 months getting you to production.

If you're lucky.

Both options shared a common assumption: software is expensive to create.

That assumption just broke.

A business analyst can now generate a working application in days. AI-assisted development, low-code platforms, and cloud infrastructure have collapsed the marginal cost of software creation toward zero.

This isn't just faster development. It's a fundamentally different paradigm: Generate.

Generate combines the speed of buying with the customization of building. Need a solution for shift handovers? Generate one. Want to automate safety reporting? Generate it. Perfect fit, no licensing fees, no procurement gymnastics.

Been there? Probably not yet. But you will be.

When anyone can build anything, the entire basis of competition shifts. The companies that win won't be the ones who build the best software. They'll be the ones who get software adopted fastest in real workflows where value gets created.

Here's what's happening right now in your organization: Someone in operations is generating solutions faster than your IT department can evaluate vendors. They're not waiting for approval committees or procurement cycles. They're solving immediate problems with immediate tools.

The cultural shift isn't optional, it's already happening. IT departments can't gate-keep what they can't control.

The marginal cost revolution isn't coming—it's happening. Right now, someone in your organization is generating solutions faster than your IT department can evaluate vendors.

Next time someone drops "Should we build or buy?" in a meeting, ask them: "What about generate?"

Their answer will tell you whether you're about to fund another expensive platform project—or actually deliver something that transforms how work gets done.

The question isn't whether this changes everything.

The question is whether you'll lead the change or be changed by it.