Perspectives
Field notes, with footnotes.
What the tools cost, what leaving them takes, and where owning the replacement genuinely pays. Where we make a claim, the source is at the bottom of the page.
The spreadsheet is the tell
Because software you rent fits its vendor's median customer, not any real process.
Buying software is a decision again
For twenty years, buy was the default and build was the deviation that had to justify itself.
What Salesforce actually costs a 400-person company
At the published list price — $175 per user per month for Sales Cloud Enterprise, billed annually — 400 seats cost $840,000 a year before add-ons, admin headcount, or integration work.
What happened to per-seat pricing
Per-seat pricing assumes value scales with headcount.
Is it safe to replace SaaS with custom AI software?
On your own: usually not — security, maintenance, and governance are where DIY systems rot.