Original OrbTrail editorial, written in our own language from the reference publication.
AI tools have reduced the effort required to produce prototypes, Flows and code. It would be reasonable to expect Salesforce architects to favor more in-house builds. Research highlighted by Salesforce Ben points in the other direction: among professionals with a stated preference, buying now edges out building, although context-dependent decisions remain the largest group.
The gap lies between creating and sustaining. An automation may be produced in days, but it must coexist with platform limits, security, sharing, integrations, existing logic and future releases. AI accelerates initial execution; it does not remove the work of testing interactions, preserving knowledge and maintaining a solution for years.
Buying may also mean hiring a partner or systems integrator to absorb part of the complexity and risk. A mature decision compares the full lifecycle: building fits capabilities that differentiate the business and have a team ready to sustain them; buying becomes stronger when the problem is common and maintenance costs outweigh customization value.
