Why Building Your Own Entity Management is a Costly Mistake

In the early stages of exploring legal entity management, companies often face a classic "Build vs. Buy" dilemma. Whether you're a fast-growing multinational or a company expanding its operations, you might hear internal discussions like:

• “Our IT team could build a system to manage our entities.”
• “We’ll try to adapt the functionality using tools we already have.”
• “We’ll handle it ourselves for now and see how it goes.”

It’s natural to think about using internal resources, especially when budgets are tight, or you want to retain full control. However, as you’ll discover, what seems like an easy choice early on can become a significant burden down the line. Here's why:

Building it Yourself is Often a Short-Term Fix

Yes, in the short term, your internal team may be able to create a basic legal entity management tool. But after that initial phase, problems tend to arise:

• Maintenance issues: The person who built your internal solution may leave the company or move on to a different project. Over time, maintaining the system becomes difficult, and new team members may not understand its complexities.
• Lack of evolution: Your needs will change as your organization grows and regulations evolve. Unlike an external solution continuously developed by a dedicated team, an in-house system can become outdated and unable to adapt to new requirements.

You Won’t Get the Feature Depth and Expertise You Need

When your internal team is focused on other priorities, it’s hard to keep up with the constant evolution of features required for a robust legal entity management platform. Externally developed systems benefit from years of refinement by specialized teams focused solely on enhancing functionality, integrating new regulations, and optimizing performance.

An internal solution might cover today’s needs, but it will likely struggle to keep pace with the regulatory complexities of tomorrow.

Who's Accountable When Problems Arise?

Even if your team successfully builds and maintains a solution, who will respond when things go wrong? Legal entity management is critical, and any disruption can lead to compliance risks, missed filings, and financial penalties. 

With an external solution, you have a dedicated support team with resources in place to ensure problems are solved quickly. Your internal team, on the other hand, may not be available to address urgent issues or react as fast.

Outgrowing Your Internal Solution

Even if building an internal system works for now, it's highly unlikely that your team will be able to keep up with future demands. The complexities of managing global entities only increase with time, making it essential to have a solution that grows alongside your business and adapts to changes in governance, compliance, and technology.

The False Choice: Build vs. Buy

At first glance, building an internal system might seem like a good way to save money and maintain control. But over time, it becomes clear that the costs — in time, resources, and maintenance — outweigh the benefits. The flexibility, expertise, and scalability of an external legal entity management solution are hard to replicate.

Building a Compelling Business Case for Buying

When weighing the "Build vs. Buy" decision, it’s essential to highlight the long-term benefits of investing in a purpose-built legal entity management solution. Athennian offers clear advantages:

• Expertise and specialization: Athennian is specifically designed for legal entity management, with regular updates and document templates tailored to meet the evolving needs of global businesses.
• Scalability and growth: As your organization expands, Athennian scales with you, ensuring you can manage increasingly complex structures and regulatory requirements without overburdening your internal resources.
• Cost-effectiveness: Athennian eliminates the ongoing costs of maintaining an internal system, allowing your team to focus on core business operations rather than solution development and maintenance.
• Dedicated support: Athennian provides support, ensuring that any issues are resolved quickly, minimizing downtime and compliance risks.
• Proven ROI: With case studies and success stories from businesses similar to yours, Athennian can help articulate the financial and operational advantages of adopting an external solution.

By choosing Athennian, you ensure that your legal entity management system stays up to date with the ever-changing regulatory landscape. 

The complexities of global compliance demand a platform that can evolve alongside your organization, offering continuous updates, expert support, and scalable functionality. 

In today’s fast-paced regulatory environment, buying a purpose-built solution is not just more efficient—it’s the best way to mitigate risks, ensure compliance, and future-proof your entity management processes.