A systematic review of the decision making process would allow these lessons to be learned and translated into a better decision making process. Many Telcos will be making the same mistakes repeatedly as different personnel operate the same old process. All Telcos could tell whether a project had succeeded or not but none could tell if a failure had been due to poor implementation, or target setting or decision making. Buying gives flexibility and advantages in terms of time to market and customer service. Buying gives cost benefits and stability benefits.
More leverage is possible on external suppliers than on in-house developers.
Some people will have previous experience of a specific billing system through previous employers and this can provide predictable levels of support as well as expertise in system capabilities from day one. Pitfalls of buying Telcos are wary of being used as a test site for an unproven product. Project delays can generate problems keeping the business going with existing systems. If the software supplier lacks research and development facilities they will always be in catch-up mode. Benefits of developing In-house developers see the solution as benefiting their own business.