T he rate at which technology innovation is accelerating makes it difficult for an average internal IT team to consistently maintain a homegrown system. When your company made the decision to build internally, it was probably the best solution for you at the time but building vs. buying is potentially holding your team back. If you’re starting to feel restrained, it’s about time to weigh your options.
Take a look below at the reasons you should ditch your in-house legacy system and outsource your administration technology needs to a reliable vendor like PCMI.
1. Limited IT Team
| HOMEGROWN | PCRS |
|---|---|
| Takes time away from other major internal projects | Lets you accomplish your business goals while we handle software needs |
| Full focus isn’t on optimizing system | Only focus is building innovative administration software |
| Longer wait times for enhancements | Agile sprint approach to regularly launch enhancements |
| Limited resources to properly test, address bugs, and write clean code | Proven QA and auditing processes |
| No designated support team | Dedicated support teams across 3 global offices |
| Limited number of staff know and understand the code | 85 developers improving our system |
| Technical skills gaps | Specialists for each portion of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) |
2. Outdated Technology
| HOMEGROWN | PCRS |
|---|---|
| Typically not cloud-based | Delivered as SaaS cloud software |
| Insufficient time to learn about newest technology trends | Dedicated team focused on implementing newest industry technologies |
| Even less time to upgrade to newest technology stack | Automatic software updates with no disruption to business |
| Turns into an obsolete legacy system without the right skill and time | 3 year winner of “Leaders in Administration Software for F&I Products” award |
3. Major Security Risks
| HOMEGROWN | PCRS |
|---|---|
| Usually hosted internally with little staff to monitor | Backed by Rackspace 24/7 intensive white glove hosting |
| Upgrades to the system could cause downtime | 99.8% uptime - Customized infrastructure to ensure system is always running smoothly |
| Potential disruptions to your business | Detailed disaster recovery plan |
| Does not meet data compliance and security requirements | Ensures data compliance and security needs are met |
| Lengthy process that usually takes a dedicated team to get a yearly security audit certification | SSAE 18 SOC Compliance Security Audit certified |
4. Lacks Features and Functionality
| HOMEGROWN | PCRS |
|---|---|
| Built with only internal needs in mind | 750+ enhancements a year driven by customer requests and industry demands, with 4 major releases yearly |
| Too customized and not flexible | Flexible, comprehensive system |
| Developers lack industry knowledge to design intuitively | Built by team of industry experts |
| Not user friendly | Dedicated User Experience (UX) team |
5. Integrations Not Supported
| HOMEGROWN | PCRS |
|---|---|
| Few or no integrations | 140+ API connections |
| Limits your ability to centralize your work | Streamlines the entire administration process all in one system |
| Any integrations required can be timely and expensive | Prebuilt integrations reduce setup cost |
6. Restricts Scalability
| HOMEGROWN | PCRS |
|---|---|
| Only supports lines of business at the time it was built | Built to allow expansion into new markets with new products |
| Can’t support large increases in business data volume | Processed over 50 million contracts and 27 million claims |
| Restricts ability to offer more products | Connects to other PCMI customers who provide products you don’t, so you can offer your customers even more |
And have you thought about all this?
When building and maintaining in-house software, it's extremely important to think about all of the secondary functionalities that will need to be implemented - often times, these can be overlooked. Take a look below at some of the most important capabilities PCRS provides that homegrown systems don't.
- Governance, compliance, and audits
- Various currencies and languages
- Billing
- Commissions
- Remittance
- Payments
- Adjudication
- Access rights
You'll wish you made the switch sooner
Staying in denial that your homegrown system can stick it out will end up costing you in the long run. Don’t waste any more time, learn more about how our PCRS administration software can help you stay competitive in today’s quickly evolving business world.
“We should’ve made the switch sooner. Our business increased by 100% after converting to PCRS, I can’t imagine we’d have that growth over the past year without it.”
– Jerry Munselle, President of Torque Group