5 Benefits of Using 3rd Party Tools in 2024

Technology removed the borders in many dimensions within our social and professional lives.

In today’s high-tech world, even a smartphone can be enough to manage your company using countless 3^rd party tools.

And wait for it: You don’t even need to know much about technological infrastructure.

Now, companies do not have to care about every single detail for the software they use. In the past, they needed to have teams to build their tools while today, the question has turned to be about if they should build it in-source or use a 3^rd party tool. In different cases, both can be the correct direction to take.

Yet, the debates related to this topic continue for a long time, and in this article, we will share the 5 benefits of using 3^rd party tools to clear things up.

Benefits of Using a 3rd Party Tool instead of Building It In-Source

1- You don't have to reinvent the wheel

There is no way to eliminate problems in business life entirely.

What is more, is that many companies share the same issues with precise solutions. So, actually, you do not need to reinvent the wheel to get closer to be seamless again. There can be ready-made tools that can help you get through this.

Hence, companies must focus on their problem and search for the tools promising to solve this problem. Only if there is no existing tool to solve your problem, you can create a new one. Other than that, you can benefit from existing opportunities that have been created before. 

2- They are cost-effective

When you have a company, your resources are not infinite. Thus, you have to be careful about spending your money.

Having your own solution needs people to build, implement, and maintain the tool, and you need to pay each of these people for their effort and time. While making a decision about whether you should build tools in-source or use the 3^rd party tools, you should consider the money you will spend on it. 

The critical point is to calculate the total cost when deciding. When single work items distract you, it can be deceptive. The time your team will spend on the tool is also a budget as making them busy with this tool decelerates the workflow on other sides. Companies usually choose to outsource the tools, as they are a lot more cost-effective.

3- You can calculate the risks

Building your tool and buying a ready-to-use option have their own risks.

You need to be aware of the risks on both sides before making your decision. When you build your own tool, you can end up with extra efforts that exceed your budget. Or your team’s capabilities may fall behind the requirements of the project. It means you will lose more time and money to solve your problem.

When you choose to use a 3^rd party tool, it can be insufficient to solve your problems. You may need extra tools to solve the problem completely. The tools developed by 3^rd parties are usually designed to integrate with other tools so that they can solve problems on a large scale. 

Also, if you encounter a problem with the tool, you will not need to have an IT department to solve it, as the vendor will take care of it for you. They will be responsible for dealing with possible problems with the tool.

In any case, if you use a non-technical third-party tool and later on decide to discontinue the project you have at hand, you won't be throwing away your developer teams' time in which they could focus on your own product alone.  

4- You can step back if you’re not happy

The competition in almost every sector is hard to ignore, and the companies developing tools are no exception.

Before you decide which tool to choose, you will be informed of all the features and risks of the tool when you use 3^rd parties. Let's say your vendor is not providing you with what they have promised, and you can just cancel your agreement and proceed to another tool. There will also be free trial periods so you can test the tool. 

When you build your own tool, and you are not very satisfied with the result, your time and money are under risk. You cannot just ignore all the work done. You need to reconsider your budget and the urgency of your need, find new solutions to the errors. Long story short, you need to take all the responsibility. 3^rd party tools are convenient and safe in this sense. 

5- They increase efficiency and save time

Tool developers work focusing on what the problem requires.

They research and analyze all the conditions of their tool so that they can offer an efficient tool within the competition. If you don't have a separate department for developing tools, then your employees' efficiency decrease as they will have to divide their time into various things. 

Instead, using 3^rd party tools enables you to focus on your own business. Your vendor, who is an expert on tools, will be your business partner that adds value to your business. In this way, you will have time to improve your products and customer services.

An Example

Company A is a startup that has launched a web product for music creation.

Company A needs a user onboarding software as their conversions are low and they can't retain their existing users.

They have 2 options moving forward; get their developers to work on a user onboarding process, or proceed to purchase a 3^rd user onboarding tool.

Their own creation offers full customization, long development time, a large investment of resources, and no guaranteed results.

They are considering to use UserGuiding, a code-free user onboarding platform, and UserGuiding offers them a wide variety of onboarding elements, full customization, guides that can be online in minutes, and guaranteed increase in user activation and retention.

They proceed to purchase UserGuiding, conduct a few A/B tests for their guides, find their most optimal user onboarding flow in a short period of time and see results immediately.