If a company wants to minimize development effort and rely on vendor support, which option is often chosen?

• A. Custom in-house
• B. Vendor-supported system
• C. Backbone with customization
• D. Special-purpose custom

Answer: (B)

The main idea is to reduce internal development by relying on a packaged solution that the vendor maintains and supports. A vendor-supported system provides core functionality, updates, security patches, and user support from the supplier, so the organization does not have to build and continuously maintain those features in-house. This speeds up deployment, yields more predictable costs, and lowers the technical risk, which is why it’s often chosen when the goal is to minimize development effort.

Built-from-scratch or heavily customized options require significant design, coding, testing, and ongoing maintenance, so they demand far more development time and resources. A backbone with customization still needs substantial work to tailor the system, while special-purpose custom is essentially bespoke development from the ground up. In short, packaged, vendor-supported systems transfer much of the effort and risk to the vendor, aligning with the goal of minimizing internal development.