Question at position 14 Which of the following is a disadvantage of building custom technology solutions?Lower strategic alignmentLong-term maintenance commitmentImmediate cost savingsReduced alignment with business needsClear my selection单项选择题
A
Lower strategic alignment
B
Long-term maintenance commitment
C
Immediate cost savings
D
Reduced alignment with business needs

Question

Question at position 14 Which of the following is a disadvantage of building custom technology solutions?Lower strategic alignmentLong-term maintenance commitmentImmediate cost savingsReduced alignment with business needsClear my selection单项选择题

A

Lower strategic alignment

B

Long-term maintenance commitment

C

Immediate cost savings

D

Reduced alignment with business needs

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Custom technology solutions are built specifically to meet an organization’s unique processes and requirements, which creates tight fit with business goals but also creates ongoing obligations. Key concepts: total cost of ownership (TCO), maintenance lifecycle, resource allocation (developers/DevOps), and strategic fit.

Step-by-step reasoning:
1. Define “custom solution”: software developed in-house or commissioned to meet unique needs rather than purchased as off-the-shelf (COTS).
2. Identify typical consequences: higher upfront development cost, tailored functionality (high strategic alignment), and a sustained need for updates, bug fixes, security patches, and compatibility adjustments as platforms and requirements change.
3. Map each answer option to these consequences:
   - “Long-term maintenance commitment”: Custom solutions require a dedicated team or vendor relationship for ongoing maintenance, upgrades, documentation, and incident response. This is a durable disadvantage because maintenance costs (staff salaries, hosting, security, refactoring) accumulate over years, increasing TCO.
   - “Lower strategic alignment”: Because custom builds are tailored, they usually increase alignment with strategy, not reduce it. Hence this is not a typical disadvantage of custom development.
   - “Immediate cost savings”: Custom builds almost always involve significant upfront investment (requirements, design, development), so immediate cost savings is false.
   - “Reduced alignment with business needs”: Similar to “lower strategic alignment,” custom solutions are designed to meet business needs closely, so this is incorrect.

Why the correct answer is correct: Long-term maintenance commitment captures the persistent, often underestimated cost and resource burden that follows custom development—ongoing bug fixes, feature enhancements, platform upgrades, and security work—all of which are real disadvantages compared with buying supported COTS products.

Why other options are incorrect: They either describe advantages of off-the-shelf products (immediate cost savings) or are the opposite of what custom solutions provide (lower or reduced alignment).