The Automat

Field notes from the bleeding edge of business

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The Build-Buy Decision Changes After You Sign: The Maintenance Reality

Drew Donaldson

Published on: 06/08/2026

AI software maintenance cost is the line item build-vs-buy analyses forget: 15% to 30% of build cost per year, pushing total cost of ownership to 1.4 to 2x. How to price it in before you sign.

AI maintenance costbuild vs buytotal cost of ownershipmodel driftMLOpsAI implementation

How to Tell if a Process Is Ready to Hand to an Agent

Drew Donaldson

Published on: 25/07/2026

An agent readiness assessment scores a process on five signals before you automate it: structure, decision rules, data access, error cost, and volume. Here is the rubric.

AI agentsprocess automationagent readinessautomation strategyRevOpsAI implementation

Integration Is the Product: A Quiet Truth About Enterprise AI

Drew Donaldson

Published on: 06/07/2026

In enterprise AI the model is now a commodity and systems integration is the real product. Why integration drives cost, value, and lock-in, and how to evaluate vendors accordingly.

enterprise AIsystems integrationAI implementationbuy vs buildvendor evaluationmodel commoditizationAI TCO

What Building a Claude Plugin Taught Us About Productizing Expertise

Automata Intel

Published on: 17/06/2026

What Claude plugin development taught us about productizing expertise: where skills end and MCP begins, and why a packaged workflow beats selling hours.

Claude plugin developmentBuy vs Build2026AI implementationModel Context Protocol