Buy, Build, Beg or Borrow: Delivering Applications in the New Age of Software Development

Changes over the last decade in both the oil industry and the computer industry have substantially complicated the process of delivering software applications. The oil industry has gone through a significant downsizing, while computing advances have users constantly demanding more complete and integrated solutions. Several oil companies’ response to this dilemma has been to establish a policy of "Buy, Don't Build." This mindset is often useful, but does not directly address the real question of how to maximize and leverage limited resources in order to efficiently deliver the necessary applications to the user community. This paper delves beyond the bipolar buy versus build question to present experiences with various approaches that have been used to deliver software. Among the methods discussed are software tools, research institutions, consortia projects, alliances, and industry standards.