For Leaders
Build vs Buy vs Agent: The Decision Framework
Every business reaches the same crossroads: do we build it ourselves, buy a tool off the shelf, or use an AI agent to handle it? The wrong answer wastes months and thousands. This course gives you a decision framework grounded in real cost analysis — not vendor hype.
2Modules
8Lessons
2 hoursTotal time
YesCertificate
Outcomes
What you'll learn
A repeatable framework for build vs buy vs agent decisions
How to calculate the true total cost of each option
When custom software is worth the investment and when it is not
How to evaluate off-the-shelf tools for your specific situation
When an AI agent is genuinely better than software
How to avoid the most expensive decision-making mistakes
Who this is for
This course is for you if...
Business Owner
Facing a process problem and evaluating solutions
Operations Director
Responsible for tooling decisions across the organisation
CFO or Finance Lead
Needs to evaluate technology investment proposals
Curriculum
Course syllabus
01The decision framework40 min
- The three-option model
- Decision criteria by business context
- Common decision biases
- Running a structured evaluation
02True cost analysis50 min
Your instructor
Taught by the people who build this
AR
Arifur Rahman
CEO & Co-Founder, SocioFi Technology
Arifur is a BUET graduate and co-founder of SocioFi Technology. He has spent the last several years building AI-native software systems and working directly with founders and SMEs to take products from prototype to production. He teaches what he has learned from doing it — not from theory.
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What students say
"
We were about to spend $80k on custom software. The TCO analysis in this course showed a SaaS tool would do 90% of the job at 10% of the cost.
Ian S.
Operations Director
"
Short, dense, and immediately useful. I now run every tooling decision through this framework.
Mei L.
COO, professional services firm
FAQ
Common questions
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