Integrating the rules engine into your existing business system can fix several inefficiencies and drive the team to develop innovative products. No wonder, most of our prospects are keen on adding rules engines to their tech stack.
However, when speaking to them about the no-code rules engine, we often hear - ‘We are well aware of the benefits rules engine can bring in for our business. We are thinking of building one and managing it in-house.’
Based on our research, customer interactions, and experiences, we have critical reasons why rolling out your own rules engine isn’t a great idea.
And, we are confident that by the end of this post, you will think the same.
So, let’s begin with what it takes to build a rules engine and see how buying one compares.
Planning to Build a Rules Engine In-House? First Read This!
When it comes to a rules engine, firms are often over-confident in their capabilities to build, maintain, and support it. But it isn’t just about building simple rules.
As the business scales, the process just gets exponentially tougher as they need to add features like user permissions or rule versioning.
Take a look at these pointers that are often overlooked by businesses when building a rules engine.
1. It Involves an Enormous Amount of Time (And Dollars!)
Building a rules engine is complex. You need to include features that cater to your business needs. So, what you may assume to be a straightforward internal tool project will get complicated, hugely impacting your time to implementation.
This means more time involved in testing and delays in getting the in-house rules engine delivered.
Even if you factor these, the project is vulnerable to loss of productivity due to scope creep, project cost overrun, and missed deadlines. Thus, building a rules engine isn’t cheap - it costs you more than money.
How Does Buying Rules Engine Compare - Find Time to Do Things That Matter
When you buy from a rules engine vendor, the time to implementation is as soon as a week. Plus, what you implement is already tried and tested and tailored to your business goals.
At Revlitix, we spend time understanding your business needs and offering rules engine solutions that will help you achieve your objectives.
So, you will not be wasting time and money on building the whole solution on your own. You would rather be freeing up your team to focus on building excellent customer-facing solutions, thus delighting customers and sharpening your competitive edge.
Once you are on board with Revlitix, our rules engine will quickly become a core component of your GTM tech stack.
Our smart rules update allows you to -
- Track up to 10 KPIs on your dashboard, thus offering you an orchestra of data points and insights
- Leverage tailored alerts that manage the chaos of data. You can set your rules and cut out the noise
- Set holiday sensitivity that snoozes alerts when you are on a break
Our conditional rules update allows you to -
- Apply rules to specific objects or across the account
- Use rules frequency to set alerts daily, weekly, or any time you want
So, more power to you!
2. Its Maintenance Isn’t Easy
Maintaining the software is time-consuming. Whether it’s protecting it from hackers who are constantly exploiting vulnerabilities or constant updates, your team will have to focus on the rules engine at all times.
The operations side of rules engine maintenance involves investing resources into training, customer support, security updates, fixing bugs, and constant customization. Thus, maintenance costs will keep coming in.
How Does Buying Rules Engine Compare - No Maintenance Headache
Vendors offering a rules engine usually have a huge customer base to cater to. Hence, they are not only able to offer competitive prices but also effortlessly maintain the rules engine for you. The vendor takes the entire burden of maintaining the rules engine, and its quality assurance,
That’s why most businesses rely on Revlitix when it comes to buying a hyper-efficient rules engine. Building and maintaining the rules engine is our core expertise. Our team has invested years into building a fitting rules engine for your business and working out the kinks.
Revlitix rules engine leverages cutting-edge automation and is powered by automated tracking, anomaly detection, alerts, and more. Thus, it is perfect for ensuring seamless operation of all your GTM processes.
3. Building a Rules Engine Is Just a Part of the Whole Puzzle
Building a UI to effectively set rules, adjust them, and monitor performance is just a part of the process. The actual game begins when the team starts using the rules engine.
For instance, you have a data problem when the rules connect with a variety of sources, namely the company system, CRM, third-party data, and more. A new data source means more hardcoded integration.
Plus, it raises concerns like -
- How will you pull that data into your internal rules?
- How will you manage error paths and timeouts?
- And more
So, when building and maintaining a rules engine in-house you need -
- Internal UI
- A rule execution system
- Version controls
- Analytical capabilities
- Data connectors
- Performance monitoring capabilities
- Testing capabilities
- Deployment system
You need a team to maintain all these moving pieces of the giant puzzle.
Say, you have managed these and released the rules engine. Now, begins the stabilization phase that comes with a whole new set of challenges.
Security Threats
Building your own solution means you need a team to manage the security threats that are so frequent and widespread today. This also means you will be paying for expensive security audits and library updates to release a new version from time to time.
GUI Update
GUIs quickly age. Often, you may find yourself in a situation where the web app development framework has a new version, rendering it incompatible with the previous one.
So, building your rules engine means updating your GUI regularly by rewriting large portions of the front end.
When You Buy Rules Engine, you do not have to manage these headaches. All this is taken care of by the vendor.
Read about Revlitix’s security programs and practices to keep customer data safe.
Our rules engine can perform comprehensive updates as they have a large customer base. They have user-friendly GUI and are designed to suit a wide range of users with different technical skill levels.
Rules Engine Build versus Buy: The Ultimate Showdown
Take Home Message
While building a rules engine for your business may seem like an enticing idea, it comes with intense pressure on time and resources. Designing a rules engine is pretty expensive and disruptive.
What’s worse?
On several occasions, the development process can completely fail, ruining your returns on investment on the entire project. And, not to mention the hidden costs involved in the process.
Hence, it is wise to rely on a ready-made solution that can provide you with everything from training and hosting to maintenance. This saves you time and money that can be diverted to your core business processes.
When building a rules engine, there’s more than meets the eye. Unless you are willing to experience drastic disruptions, you must buy a proven and established business rules engine.
Most of our clients are deploying the Revlitix rules engine to achieve their business goals. We are happy to talk to you about these experiences.
If you want us to talk you through your build versus buy decision or want an expert perspective from us, feel free to reach out to us.
