In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies face a pivotal decision: How best to modernize their aging legacy systems to meet dynamic program and customer needs efficiently and effectively. As agencies grapple with the complexities, they are presented with two primary pathways: buying pre-built, domain-specific human services products from Vimo® that offer extensive out-of-the-box functionality, or opting for expensive custom-built solutions developed on cross-industry platforms. The choice of a technology platform impacts policy considerations, budgets, timelines, and overall success of an agency. By dissecting these options, we aim to provide a clear, insightful guide to help human services agencies navigate their modernization journey.
System Modernization Goals
The goals of most modernization initiatives typically encompass one or more of the following criteria:
- Start with 80/20 Vision – 80% of the required functionality is already available, productized, documented, and supported.
- Stay true to 80/20 vision – Minimize customization to maintain the integrity of the core design while leveraging innovative technology capabilities.
- Start with product documentation and training
- Enable fast prototyping by favoring configuration instead of writing code
- Rapid spin-up of programs
- Deliver modern user experience (UX), look, and feel
- Deliver significantly lower Risk Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- Focus on service innovation rather than costly custom software development, maintenance, and operations
It is crucial for agencies to consider each of the above objectives when evaluating solutions to replace or modernize their existing systems.
Buy (Products) versus Build (Custom Solutions)
Selecting a “BUY” approach from Vimo versus a “BUILD” approach from a Systems Integrator is a pivotal decision for HHS agencies as they assess various solutions from vendors. Opting for Vimo’s pre-built human services products means investing in proven, mature solutions that have been successfully implemented across various government agencies. Vimo products come with significant built-in functionality and are fully supported and maintained by us.
In contrast, a custom-build approach involves System Integrator services teams developing expensive bespoke solutions, often repurposing software assets originally created for another customer or program in a different state. The differences between Vimo products and custom-built solutions are significant, spanning across functionality, deployment, ongoing maintenance, enhancements, self-reliance, speed and cost of implementation, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Vimo Human Services Products
Vimo is one of the fastest growing and most innovative developer of Software as a Service (SaaS)-based human services-centered technology products. SaaS is a methodology of delivering software services that has rapidly gained acceptance across industries. SaaS vendors deliver functionality “on tap” by deploying their software in the cloud and leveraging a common code base across clients. This approach is extremely efficient since it enables development, infrastructure, and other costs to be shared, and does not require clients to have large technical teams to maintain and support the platform. Because our software is modular, agencies don’t have to make sweeping changes all at once, but rather incremental progress in one area (such as MAGI Medicaid) and modernize the rest of the systems over time. Our suite of mature solutions is crafted by a team of professional developers, architects, designers, and testers with deep domain expertise.
When agencies choose to implement Vimo products, they are well-positioned to achieve minimal or no tradeoffs between customization requests and maintaining the integrity of the core design. This often results in adapting business processes to the system rather than the other way around, making it a crucial decision driver for agencies.
Custom-Build Solutions
Several systems integrators offer robust and versatile development platforms that provide a comprehensive range of capabilities tailored to the needs of disparate government agencies, including departments of motor vehicles, hunting and fisheries, and human services. Their strengths lie in out-of-the-box functionality for tasks such as customer relationship management (CRM), ticket management, and workflow automation, which can significantly enhance operational efficiency and service delivery. However, while they may excel in these areas, human services agencies often find they must heavily customize the platform to meet their specific program requirements. This customization is necessary to address specialized needs, comply with regulatory standards, and integrate with existing systems. As a result, the initial advantages of system integrators’ pre-built capabilities can be offset by the time, cost, and complexity involved in developing these custom solutions.
To reduce implementation times and costs, Systems Integrators frequently propose “accelerators” in competitive proposals to secure high evaluation scores from agencies. These accelerators are essentially custom code developed for prior state-specific implementation projects and often lack ongoing support or regular updates. This approach presents significant challenges.
Accelerators are point-in-time solutions custom-developed to meet the unique requirements of specific programs and agencies. Consequently, they are not designed for reuse as standardized products. Adapting these custom-built solutions to meet new requirements or updates is inherently difficult. Any necessary modifications or adaptations for a different state often require starting from scratch and rewriting the code, undermining the initial objective of using accelerators to save time and reduce costs.
Compared to Vimo solutions, accelerators present several disadvantages. Accelerators cannot be easily upgraded and lack a regular schedule of product updates, causing them to fall behind in terms of innovation and functionality. Additionally, most accelerators are essentially legacy lift-and-shift packages created for another agency, relying on outdated deployment models. While accelerators may offer short-term cost savings, they can lead to long-term inefficiencies and higher maintenance costs.
Summary of Key Differences:
| Buy vs Build | Vimo HHS Products | Custom Built Solutions |
| Commercially available off the shelf | ✔ | |
| HHS domain-specific Program functionality | ✔ | Some, but typically built for another State agency/Program |
| Developed, Tested, Maintained and Upgraded by product development teams | ✔ | Services personnel |
| Extended and upgraded without writing custom code | ✔ | |
| New features available without a change request | ✔ | |
| The ability to seamlessly push updates to customers | ✔ | |
| Product roadmap informed by customer enhancement requests | ✔ | |
| Regular product enhancements without costly change requests | ✔ | |
| Upgradable without a large price tag or rewrite of existing functionality | ✔ | |
| Point-in-time solution or transfer-system built for another customer | ✔ | |
| Technology Debt (becomes stale) as soon as system goes live | ✔ | |
| Designed for reuse and program scalability without significant additional custom code, cost, and risk | ✔ |
Choosing Your Path Forward
Vimo’s products offer a wealth of pre-built functionality that is easily configurable to meet specific state requirements without the need for extensive coding. This approach not only ensures a cost-effective and low-risk implementation but also guarantees rapid speed to benefit. Vimo’s cloud-based products are continuously upgraded and fully documented, providing seamless delivery of future innovations that align with evolving agency needs.
Conversely, custom-built solutions often rely on accelerators—custom code developed for specific programs and agencies. While intended to reduce implementation time and costs, accelerators come with significant drawbacks. They are difficult to upgrade, lack regular product updates, and often utilize outdated deployment models. These limitations can result in long-term inefficiencies and higher maintenance costs, factors that agencies should carefully consider.
As human services agencies navigate the complex landscape of modernizing their legacy systems, the decision between adopting pre-built products or custom-building on platforms is critical.