Blue Baltic Community: Buy, Build or Build? Core systems (ERP, TMS) in the company in the era of AI

Just a few years ago, building your own ERP, TMS or other key IT solution meant a large budget, a long process and the need to maintain a technology team. The development of AI strongly changes this calculation – software development is becoming faster and cheaper, and the possibilities of building solutions tailored to your own processes are increasing.

But does this mean that every company should build its own system today? Definitely not.

During the next Blue Baltic Community meeting, we will look at one of the most important technological decisions in the company: when to buy a ready system, when to build your own, and when to combine both approaches.

We do not want to convince the participants to one correct answer. We will compare two perspectives and talk about the real costs, benefits and risks of both roads.

We will address such questions as:

• when a ready-made solution from the market is the best and most rational choice,
• in which situations your own system can give the company a real advantage,
• what AI has actually changed in the cost and rate of software development,
• how to avoid dependence of a company on one supplier or solution,
• how to maintain control over your own data and key processes,
• when adjusting the finished system starts to cost more than building your own,
• how to assess which processes are really unique to the company and which it makes no sense to build from scratch,
• how to approach the integration of several tools instead of looking for one system “for everything”.

Two perspectives

The first part of the meeting will be led by Sebastian Wróbel, CEO of FreightTech.org, who will show how AI has changed the economics of building systems and present a simple matrix to help organize the build/buy/compose decision.

The second perspective will bring TBA – practices, which will show situations where the implementation of a ready-made solution is a better choice than creating your own system.

We want to combine these two points of view, so the meeting will not be a presentation of a specific product or supplier.

Workshop part

After two speeches, we will proceed to work on the examples of participants.

Everyone will be able to look at the systems used in their own company and put them on a common matrix:

Buy? Build? Or maybe a few solutions?

On this basis, we will talk about specific cases, decisions and doubts of the participants.

Program

1. Build/buy/compose in the time of AI

Sebastian Sparrow – about 45 min

1. The “Buy” Perspective

TBA – about 45 min

1. Workshop: where on the matrix are the systems in your company?

about 30 min

1. Networking and further discussions

Dla kogo?

The meeting will be particularly valuable for:

• owners and managers of companies,
• COO, CFO and persons responsible for operational processes,
• companies using or planning to implement ERP, TMS and other core systems,
• companies that are considering building their own tools or upgrading existing systems,
• persons responsible for digitization, automation and technological development of the company.

No need to have a technical background. The starting point will be business and operational decisions, not programming.

30 November 2026.
10:00–13:00
STARTER Gdańsk, Lęborska 3B
Number of places limited

Participation in the event is free.

See you!
STARTER Gdańsk Team
Julia Halemba

The Blue Baltic Community project is co-financed by the City of Gdańsk.