Experimentation
Total cost of ownership (TCO)
Also calledTCO
The full cost of a tool or system over its life, including set-up, licences, maintenance and the staff time it needs, not just the purchase price.
TCO puts building and buying on the same footing. A licence fee is visible; the engineers who maintain an in-house system, fix it and answer questions about it are just as real a cost, and usually larger.
A three-year view is common, because year-one costs are dominated by set-up and hide the ongoing cost that decides the comparison.