A look back at a nine-month journey with a large enterprise IT team that shifted from building their own agentic AI platform to partnering with a proven solution.
Executive summary
As more enterprises adopt agentic AI platforms, IT leaders fdace a critical choice: build a custom system in-house or adopt a platform designed for speed, security, and scale. This whitepaper shares the story of an enterprise that began committed to building everything themselves, then pivoted to a platform approach. Their experience offers valuable lessons for any IT executive weighing the same decision.
The first conversation: “We’ll build it ourselves”
A few months ago, I joined a call with the enterprise’s IT executives and AI leaders. The mood was confident. One senior architect said, “We’re building this ourselves. We’ve already scoped the architecture. We want complete ownership, from the agents to memory management, observability, and guardrails.”
This mindset is common. Full control sounds appealing. It promises customization and the belief that in-house builds future-proof the organization.
On paper, this approach covers all the bases: control, adaptability, alignment. But in practice, building complex AI platforms rarely leads to sustained momentum. Over the next several months, their experience proved this again.
When momentum meets complexity
The team pressed forward, even while engaging with multiple demos of DevRev’s agentic AI platform. At first, everything felt promising. The architecture was planned. Internal champions rallied behind it. Developers were energized, building prototypes and pitching ideas to leadership. Budgets were allocated with the expectation of breakthrough results.
Then reality set in.
Technical challenges piled up. Persisting memory across conversations, managing multi-threaded context, and creating governance controls slowed progress. Security and compliance teams needed constant validation. Stakeholders wanted measurable business outcomes, not just technical milestones.
Over time, the nature of the work changed. The innovative projects developers were excited to build shifted into routine maintenance and firefighting. Budgets moved from innovation to upkeep. Tension grew. Developers didn’t want to be system maintainers. They wanted to create something that set the business apart.
Progress started to feel like a slow grind. The team was busy, but the impact stalled. They were carrying growing technical debt and operational overhead.
At this point, they had to ask: Is maintaining this platform really the best way to drive impact?
Considering DevRev: A different path
They remembered our early conversations and reached back out to learn more.
The CIO voiced a fair concern: “This looks powerful, but will we lose control or flexibility?”
DevRev was built to address exactly this fear. It offers a robust agentic AI platform with memory, orchestration, secure execution, and feedback loops ready to use. At the same time, it allows deep customization to match internal workflows and systems.
The platform also embeds enterprise-grade security, governance, and compliance controls that fit internal policies. This combination helps IT teams adopt AI faster without giving up control or taking on unmanaged risk.
The strategic pivot
A few weeks later, the same architect who had insisted on building everything shared a new perspective:
Trying to build it ourselves clarified what really matters. Adopting DevRev is the smarter path. It helps us deliver value faster and with less risk.
Their focus shifted. Instead of spending time wrestling with infrastructure, the team started deploying AI agents that solved real problems: automating support ticket resolution, streamlining workflows, and iterating on AI behaviors — all without managing the core platform. They kept their strategic vision but stepped away from the costly cycle of building and maintaining foundational systems.
What this means for IT leaders
Choosing to build or buy isn’t just a technical decision. It’s a strategic one. The priority is delivering measurable impact while managing risk, budget, and time.
DevRev helps teams stay in control of agent behavior, data governance, and integrations while speeding up deployment and reducing operational overhead. It frees developers to focus on innovation and outcomes, not maintenance.
This approach leads to faster AI adoption, lower risk, and stronger alignment with compliance standards.
Where this enterprise stands now
Today, this enterprise is seeing real results. Teams are creating multi-agent workflows across support and product functions. They’ve improved resolution times and knowledge management while building on a stable, scalable foundation.
They’re no longer tied up maintaining core systems. Instead, they’re focused on delivering differentiated value.
Why DevRev is the Agentic AI platform for now, tomorrow, and the future
Picking the right platform is about more than solving today’s problems. It’s about staying ready to innovate at scale. DevRev provides an integrated, customizable foundation that accelerates time to value without forcing teams to rebuild core systems.
The platform combines enterprise-grade security, governance, and compliance with the agility and extensibility needed for agentic AI innovation. It empowers developers to focus on building differentiated workflows rather than maintaining infrastructure.
With built-in memory, orchestration, observability, and feedback loops, DevRev evolves as your business grows. It integrates with existing systems and supports ongoing experimentation.
DevRev is the scalable, secure foundation enterprises need to lead in AI innovation.
Facing your own ‘Build vs. Buy’ decision?
Here’s the question I encourage IT leaders to ask:
Are you investing in building something that truly differentiates your business, or are you rebuilding core infrastructure that already exists?
If it’s the latter, the opportunity cost is significant. Time, budget, and talent spent on infrastructure could be used to deliver AI-driven value.
DevRev helps enterprises start fast, scale securely, and stay in control — without compromise.
Ready to accelerate your agentic AI journey?
Let’s talk strategy and explore how leading IT teams are moving from concept to live agents in under 60 days. You don’t need to build everything to own the results.
