One of the classic decisions in corporate IT is the choice of building your own over buying third-party software. The reported project failure rates—estimates generally range from 50% to 70% that don't finish on time, on budget, or providing the value they promised—push many companies to buy something that promises to deliver.

But there's always a trade-off. A commercial application may be finished and polished, but it might not provide what a company perceives that it needs. The choice then is either to settle or to pay for modifications that can complicate the ability to upgrade to future versions.

NRP Group, a multifamily developer and property management firm, had third-party applications to run its operations, but valuation, financial modeling, and the sort was done in Excel, according to Rachel Johnson, a newly promoted principal who joined the firm in 2010 in an accounting role, then became an asset manager, and in 2013 took on the role of chief information officer.