> Avoiding any custom software development and purchasing is the number one priority for small to medium businesses that want to survive if you ask me. Yes and

> Avoiding any custom software development and purchasing is the number one priority for small to medium businesses that want to survive if you ask me. Yes and no. I think it depends on the problem being solved. Many small companies solve the same problem. For them a working commercial solution should exist. Many other small companies exist because they can flexibly solve special problems. Special problems on which the big companies fail. Mainly because commercial software solutions don't exist and the problems often change quickly. In that case in-house-IT can be THE deciding advantage that makes them move faster than the competition. Yeah, it depends on the kind of problem being solved (or not solved) which is better and sometimes things change unexpectedly making the other choice better for some years.