# Requirements Unless you have restrictions about how your data moves and where it is stored, or need to have a trusted computing base with no externally devel

# Requirements Unless you have restrictions about how your data moves and where it is stored, or need to have a trusted computing base with no externally developed software, or have very strict requirements that no available service implements (unlikely), you are better off just using an open source solution or paying for a service. # Real cost Even if you have to pay for a commercial service, in comparison, the TCO of developing a similar solution in-house is very large. When you create a system in-house, you are paying for: design, implementation, testing, maintenance, deployment, infrastructure, security audits, training for users, documentation, and sometimes costs go beyond engineering, e.g: UX and graphic design and such. After you are done spending all that money, you end up with a custom built service that is far from the actual main activity that supports your business. # Quality If you are to authorize a team to do something like this, audit their code constantly and impose a higher quality standard than you do for the rest of your applications. This is because this system will be a dependency for all your applications. Even in large companies, it is unlikely that you have enough resources to have a large dedicated working on something like this. Because of this, requirements will need to be deprioritized or just neglected. Because of this, you can lose all hope of selling this solution externally. # Users Then, since you are committing significant resources to your internal tool, it is likely that every single team will be forced to use it. That in itself is also a problem. What is better? a) Learning how to use MixPanel, and put it in your resume (a skill that has market value and can be traded). b) Learning how to use a proprietary system that is only used internally within a company. A skill that cannot be traded in the job market. If I am a user, it is against my own self interest to push for an internally developed tool.