This May 2016 post reflected on the moment enterprises realized the true cost of outsourcing wasn’t just in vendor invoices, but in lost capability and customer understanding. It described how over-reliance on external vendors led to slow delivery, opaque systems, and disengaged internal teams. The piece highlighted how some companies began reversing course — rebuilding internal teams and treating vendors as partners, not proxies.
By late 2017, more enterprises embraced hybrid models, bringing strategic engineering functions in-house while shifting vendors toward commodity work. Product thinking began to shift from “who does it cheapest” to “who understands the user.”
In 2025, leading organizations balance outsourcing with core ownership. Engineering, design, and data capabilities are viewed as differentiators — not overhead. Strategic vendors are embedded in teams, but internal talent sets the direction and owns the outcome.
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