The easiest way to get AI is to click "Enable" in your existing software. Salesforce Einstein, Microsoft Copilot, Notion AI. It takes 5 seconds.
But convenience has a cost. Usually, that cost is a per-user upcharge. $30 here. $50 there. Suddenly, your software bill has doubled.
The TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Trap
Let's do the math for a 500-person company:
- Microsoft Copilot: $30/mo * 500 = $180,000/year.
- Salesforce AI: $50/mo * 100 sales reps = $60,000/year.
- Notion AI: $10/mo * 500 = $60,000/year.
Total: $300,000/year. And this price will never go down. It is a rent that scales linearly with your headcount.
The "Build" Alternative
What if you took that $300,000 and built a custom "Company Intelligence Layer"?
You could build a unified RAG system that connects to Sharepoint, Salesforce, and Notion simultaneously. You pay for the inference (tokens) or the GPU, not the seats. If you use open-source models (Llama 3), your running costs might be $20,000/year.
Yes, the upfront build cost is higher ($100k-$150k). But the "Payback Period" is often less than 9 months. After that, you own the asset.
The "Data Moat" Argument
When you use off-the-shelf AI, you are training their generic model. When you build custom AI, you are fine-tuning your model. You are capturing the unique IP of how your company works. This becomes a defensive moat that competitors cannot buy.