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OutSail vs DIY: Discover the True Costs of HR Software Selection. Your expert HRIS buying guide and HR tech broker comparison to save time, money, and avoid costly mistakes.
When your company needs new HR software, the DIY approach might seem like the straightforward choice. After all, your HR team knows your needs best, right? But here's what most companies discover too late: going solo in HR tech selection often costs far more than working with a specialized broker like OutSail—in both time and money.
Let's break down the real costs of DIY HR software selection and why the broker model delivers better outcomes for organizations of all sizes.
Your internal HR team is brilliant at what they do—but staying current on the rapidly evolving HR tech landscape isn't their full-time job.
The DIY Reality: The HR technology market includes 220+ vendors, with new players emerging quarterly and existing platforms constantly adding features, changing pricing models, and shifting their ideal customer profiles. Unless your team is researching vendors daily, you're making decisions with incomplete or outdated information.
Companies going solo typically:
The OutSail Advantage: OutSail's team lives and breathes HR tech. With 1,000+ implementations completed and relationships across every vendor in the space, they track product releases, pricing changes, and shifting vendor strategies in real-time. When VetnCare partnered with OutSail, they received three perfectly-matched recommendations within 48 hours—not three months of vendor research.
Most companies replace their HRIS every 5-7 years. That means your team is essentially learning how to buy HR software from scratch each time.
The DIY Reality: Without a proven process, internal teams typically:
This learning curve is expensive. The average DIY HRIS selection takes 6-9 months, consuming hundreds of hours from your HR, IT, and finance teams.
The OutSail Advantage: OutSail brings battle-tested tools and frameworks refined across thousands of projects:
First Manhattan cut their selection timeline to just 30 days using OutSail's proven process—that's a 75% time savings compared to typical DIY timelines.
Here's an uncomfortable truth: without an independent expert, the loudest voice in the room often wins—not the best solution.
The DIY Reality: Every HRIS selection involves multiple stakeholders with competing priorities:
Without objective expertise, these competing agendas lead to:
The OutSail Advantage: As a vendor-agnostic broker, OutSail serves as the neutral party armed with facts. They anchor decisions in data rather than opinions, showing exactly how each vendor scores against your requirements. When internal politics threaten to derail the process, OutSail's expertise helps teams refocus on objective criteria and long-term business needs.
This is where DIY becomes most costly: overpaying for your HR software.
The DIY Reality: Without market intelligence, companies routinely:
HR software vendors know when they're talking to inexperienced buyers. They structure proposals strategically, knowing which numbers will get challenged and which will slide through.
The OutSail Advantage: OutSail's pricing database tracks real-world costs across thousands of implementations. When they review your proposals, they know exactly:
Gentherm achieved $1M in savings over three years by leveraging OutSail's negotiation expertise and pricing benchmarks. That's a real dollar impact that dwarfs the perceived "cost" of using a broker (which is zero, since OutSail is free to buyers).
The data speaks for itself:
When Olo set out to upgrade their HRIS, OutSail's granular pricing insights helped them identify a high-ROI option they would have otherwise dismissed. First Manhattan found their perfect payroll system in record time, breaking away from the conventional path. These aren't isolated success stories—they're the standard outcome of working with specialized expertise.
The irony? Most companies choose DIY because they think it's free. But the actual costs are substantial:
Time Investment:
Overpayment Risk:
Selection Risk:
Add it up, and DIY easily costs $50,000-$100,000+ more than using OutSail—even before you factor in the risk of choosing wrong.
Let's be honest: there are scenarios where DIY works fine.
Consider going solo if:
But for most mid-market and enterprise companies, these conditions don't apply. You're evaluating dozens of potential vendors, your requirements span multiple departments, and you haven't done this in years. That's exactly when expert guidance pays off.
Here's what surprises many first-time users: OutSail's services are completely free to buyers.
The platform makes money through a vendor-agnostic broker model where all 220+ HR partners pay the same commission rates. The winning vendor compensates OutSail—not you—and they don't pass this cost along in higher software fees.
This means you get:
All at zero cost, with zero obligation.
Ready to see how much time and money you could save? Book a Free HR Tech Consultation
In your first conversation, OutSail will:
No sales pressure, no vendor favoritism—just expert guidance to help you make the best decision for your organization.
DIY HR tech selection seems cost-effective until you account for the hidden expenses: time drain, overpayment, internal politics, and selection risk. When you can access world-class expertise at no cost, the only question is: why would you go it alone?
Companies like DoorDash, Hudl, and SalesLoft chose OutSail because they recognized that buying HR software is too important to leave to trial and error. Your next HRIS will serve your company for years—make sure you choose wisely.
Get Started with OutSail Today and discover how expert guidance transforms the HR tech buying experience. OutSail has helped 1,000+ companies select the right HR software, saving over 100,000 business hours and facilitating $100M+ in HR tech purchases.
