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Robertino
Robertino

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👥 Building an Identity Solution — Quantity Doesn’t Equal Quality

🛠 Why adding more developers to an identity project doesn’t always work out as intended.


Without identity, digital business can’t happen. If you don’t know who’s logging in, you can’t be sure what access to give them. Without a solid identity solution, you’re leaving your front door open, which often leads to data breaches.

The Latin American technology market is booming. According to a study by IDB Lab, the value of the tech-enabled startup market in the region has multiplied 32 times in the last decade, reaching a value of $221 billion in 2020. The increased speed of digital transformation and the expansion of existing markets can lead to business project priorities becoming muddled.

In the rush to get a new site online or to integrate the systems of a recently acquired company, some organizations opt to build their own identity management tools in-house. Others keep their development teams focused on their core product or service while outsourcing identity to an identity as a service (IDaaS) provider.

And still, others will start an in-house identity build only to discover that their development team is missing the specialized skills needed and the project quickly goes over budget or lacks required features. The build vs. buy dilemma is not a new one, but when it comes to the security and privacy of your customer data, Auth0 understands how important it is to get right. We also understand the intricacies of the Latin American market, our founders are Argentinian, and we recently partnered with CLM to expand our offerings and solidify our infrastructure for our customers in the region.

Build vs. Buy: The Basics

Build vs. Buy: The Basics

Comparable to other software development projects, an identity platform can be designed and built by in-house developers, or a solution can be purchased and integrated into existing systems. And as with other projects, both options have their merits. Some reasons an organization may opt to build their own identity solution include:

  • The ability to maintain tighter control over the software development lifecycle (SDLC). By using an in-house development team, the company maintains control of the entire process, from design to implementation.
  • A custom-built solution can be supported by in-house IT teams. To limit access to potentially sensitive information, some organizations prefer to keep support for their tools with in-house teams.
  • Keeping costs down. We’ll address this in greater detail later in this article, but many companies believe that it’s cheaper to do development in-house rather than purchase an out-of-the-box solution. This is especially true in regions with lower costs of living.

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