Build vs. Buy: 3 Risks to Consider When Implementing Email Integration

As the demand for productivity features soar, organizations want to connect popular applications to users’ inboxes to help them do more. Building an email integration from the ground up might sound like it’s in your wheelhouse, but not all software builds are successful. Christine Spang, CTO and co-founder of Nylas says in-house builds can drain IT resources and pose security and technical challenges.  

To build or to buy? That is the question many developers face when tasked with bringing critical productivity features to the market. Many of the more common features in modern productivity apps are centered around cross-channel communications and workflow. As the largest communications channel in the world, it’s natural that companies will look to email as a key integration into their applications. 

Yet, the process of building an email integration that spans all providers can take over a year, quickly accrue costs of millions in developer resources and require enough manpower to disrupt your product roadmap. Even more concerning is the amount of risk teams face when they attempt their own email integration, both technical and legal. 

Let’s look at three risks teams must consider, and the difference between building your own integrations versus adopting an API solution. 

Risk #1: Burning Valuable Engineering Resources 

On average, it takes more than 30,000 hours — or 1.5 years — to develop an email integration in-house that connects to all email, calendar and content providers, such as Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Office 365, Outlook and IMAP. When teams spend that much time building table stakes features, they can’t focus on building other critical capabilities that help the business stay ahead of the competition. Focusing on conceptually simple but technically difficult backend development and ongoing maintenance gives them less man-hours to lean into developing next-level features that will set your application apart in an ever-growing competitive landscape. 

Learn More: AI-Driven Language Processing Could Shorten Our Emails

Risk #2: Skyrocketing Costs of Development

Our team estimates the overall costs required for in-house development and long-term maintenance add up to $2 Opens a new window million dollars for seven senior engineers Opens a new window over 18 months. That’s a big hit to any company’s operating expense — in start-ups, it’s the kind of disruption that can put you out of business. When companies invest in an API solution that removes the need for engineers to build and maintain everything themselves, they can allocate savings to other business initiatives, such as product innovation, sales and marketing, customer success, or expanding into new geos. The possibilities are endless, but it starts with finding the most efficient solutions to building out your product.

Risk #3: A Never-Ending Security Headache

Building an email integration from the ground up puts enormous pressure on developers as security infrastructure responsibilities sit on their shoulders. Security needs around compliance certifications such as SOC-2, GDPR, FINRA, and HIPAA also add more cost and complexity. Finding the right solution that allows you to access sensitive data like email histories while maintaining security and compliance eases the pressure on developers and allows you to launch new features without fear of running afoul of the regulation.

Learn More: 4 Pillars of AI-Based Email Security

Build vs. Buy

As teams develop their product strategy, they must consider the risks to their internal operations and ultimately the customer experience. When teams take the ‘buy’ route and invest in an API solution allowing quick and secure integration across all email providers, they have the potential to cut the time it takes to bring crucial communications capabilities to market from 1.5 years to a matter of only a couple of weeks.

The demand for communications features such as email integrations is only growing and teams should consider the benefits of investing in a solution that can keep them ahead of the curve. As a result, teams can go to market faster, eliminate building and maintenance costs, and ultimately allow their developers to build what they love rather than wasting time trying to maintain uptime. 

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