In my conversations with KiwiSaver providers, one question comes up repeatedly: should we build, or should we buy?
The choice depends on capacity, capability, and goals, and in reality, there’s a third path – boost.
The three paths
Build: create and run your own solution. Maximum control. Highest cost and complexity.
Buy: adopt a ready-made AI product that the solution provider runs and maintains. Fastest path. Limited tailoring. Provider dependence.
Boost: start with a solution provider’s product, then improve it with your data or light tuning. Better fit and accuracy. Requires governance and validation.
What “Build” really means
“Build” is often misunderstood. Many think that using platforms like AWS, Salesforce, or Microsoft co-pilot counts as buying.
In reality, those are raw materials and using them still means you’re building. Your organisation will still need to stitch together tools, manage integrations, and shoulder long-term ownership. Building is not necessarily about starting from scratch, but it does mean:
- Owning design and architecture decisions.
- Managing ongoing maintenance and updates.
- Having in-house capacity to integrate and extend platforms.
When Build fits
- Your in-house technology teams have the capacity to own complex systems long term.
- You have skilled UX designers to shape member experiences.
- You see technology as a core differentiator, not just an enabler.
- You’re prepared to fund significant internal headcount for delivery, maintenance, and innovation.
This is the path global tech companies or large banks often choose. Their size, budgets, and strategy make building a viable option.
What “Buy” really means
You adopt a ready-to-use product that already solves a defined problem. The solution provider operates the product and handles releases, support, and performance. You configure it, you do not build it. Buying means:
- Faster setup and time to value.
- Standard features and workflows with light configuration.
- The solution provider handles updates, support, and scale.
When Buy fits
- You want results quickly with minimal internal lift.
- Your needs align with standard product capabilities.
- You want predictable costs and fewer internal systems to run.
- Keep BAU teams focused on member service and compliance.
Buying means adopting ready-to-run solutions that integrate into existing workflows. The heavy lifting such as setup, maintenance, compliance updates and scaling stays with the solution provider.
What “Boost” really means
Boost sits between buy and build. You use a solution provider’s model, then improve results with your own data or targeted tuning. The solution provider still runs and maintains the base model. Your team brings the context. In practice, that means adding proprietary content, rules, and workflows, or fine-tuning for your setting. Results get more relevant. You need tight data governance and strong validation. Boost means:
- Adding proprietary content, rules, and workflows
- Tuning outputs for your policies and service language
- Higher governance needs for quality, privacy, and audit
When Boost fits
- You want speed, but the out-of-the-box product is too generic.
- You want differentiation from your competitors.
- You have reliable internal content that improves accuracy.
- You do not want to hire a large in-house team to build and run models.
Case Studies: When owning less complexity wins
Gymshark
Failed build in-house to buying success: Gymshark initially built on a self-managed, heavily customised Adobe Commerce stack. It took six to eight months just to build the site. The site cost hundreds of thousands to set up and maintain. When peak traffic exposed limits, including an eight-hour Black Friday outage, the team reconsidered owning the stack.
Ten months after starting with Adobe Commerce, Gymshark moved to Shopify Plus. Shopify handled setup, upgrades, performance, and scale, so the team could roll out site and campaign changes much faster. The shift saved time and money, letting the company focus on brand and product while the platform handled the baseline.
Suncorp
Fractured legacy systems to modernisation: Suncorp, a major ANZ financial services group focused on general insurance, is replacing multiple on-premises legacy systems. It selected Duck Creek’s OnDemand policy, billing, and Clarity (data, insights and AI) solutions as part of its digital insurer program. The program targets lower technology complexity, better operational efficiency, and faster delivery.
Suncorp expects new product time to market to move from months to weeks, and product amendments from weeks to days. More automation will remove manual steps. With OnDemand, Duck Creek applies software upgrades and provides application and infrastructure support, so teams have more time to focus on product and customers.
Why this matters for KiwiSaver providers: In each case, the key factor was who owned the ongoing complexity, not how shiny the tools were.
- If you build, you carry long-term ownership. That means engineering, UX, integration, compliance, and upgrades, year after year.
- If you buy, you shift that load to a solution provider. You get faster results and more predictable costs. BAU teams stay focused on members.
- If you boost, you get a better fit on top of a solution provider’s product. You may take on governance and validation for the content you add.
The compliance dimension
Building in-house means owning compliance obligations at every level: data security, privacy, audit trails, reporting, and regulatory alignment. That requires specialist expertise and constant vigilance.
Buying shifts much of this responsibility to solution providers whose entire business depends on staying compliant. Regular updates, tested processes, and external assurance are baked into their offering. This not only reduces risk but also gives boards confidence that compliance will keep pace as regulations evolve.
Boost improves fit, but it raises the bar on governance and testing because you are adding proprietary content to a solution provider’s model, so you need stronger controls on quality, privacy, and audit. However, the capabilities for this might be built within the solution providers’ offerings.
A practical lens
When deciding, ask:
- Complexity – Do we want to own the complexity of design, integration, and maintenance?
- Differentiation – Is technology itself our differentiator, or is member service and trust what sets us apart?
- Capacity – Do we have the capacity and skillset to sustain a build strategy over the years?
- Compliance – How much regulatory and compliance burden are we prepared to carry internally?
Choose Build if you have deep in-house teams and want full control long term.
Choose Buy if you want a ready-made product that the solution provider runs, with predictable setup and upkeep.
Choose Boost if you want speed with a better fit, and can govern data quality, validation, and ongoing use.
I’ll acknowledge the bias here. As someone who runs a solution provider, I clearly have a stake in this. But based on our conversations with providers, they see the real advantage for them lying in owning member engagement and trust, not in building technology stacks.
Given the above, for most KiwiSaver providers, Boost offers the best balance for the following reasons:
- Speed – you get the fast time-to-value of a buy model.
- Fit – the solution can be adapted to your products, processes, and rules.
- Differentiation – you can shape the solution in ways that set you apart in the market.
- Efficiency – you avoid the heavy, ongoing costs and risks of a complete build.
The Boost solution, with built-in governance, compliance updates, and performance management, gives boards and executives confidence while staff stay centred on members.
I would love to hear differing opinions to the above. Want to always be learning.