News and Insights

At this year’s ECI Unlocked: Digital Growth Summit, our portfolio CEOs shared hard-won lessons about making the right technology investment decisions, and what they learned along the way. The fundamental question remains: when should you build, and when should you buy?

1. The competitive advantage test

Mark Eastham, CEO of Avantia, has a clear framework, and noted it’s important to check your ego at the door. "If we believe that we can create a competitive advantage by building something ourselves in contrast to buying it, then we will seriously go for it. But we are never going to build a better CRM system than Salesforce." 

For Avantia, competitive advantage lies in extracting data from systems to make real-time decisions that competitors can't. Systems of record? Buy them. Unique decisioning capabilities? Build them. 

Moneypenny's CEO, Jesper With-Fogstrup echoes this principle. "Don't build if somebody else has built utility. Find the best of breed and connect it together if necessary." The important lesson he’s learned in making this approach work? Don’t build and then customise to death. Challenge every customisation you make to an off the shelf product by asking what true value it creates. 

2. The AI acceleration

AI has become unavoidable. As Jesper noted, "if you're any business right now and AI is not on your agenda, you're probably mistaken. I can't think of any way where you wouldn't have it." Not only is it important in your own business, it is becoming key to tenders, with customers  explicitly asking about AI features and how they will benefit 

This shift is integral to your build vs buy decision making. In many cases, the AI product you need doesn’t need to be built from the ground up, and you can white label tools and integrate them to create something distinctive. However, if you already have an AI forward organisation and data processing is core to your product, then you have a unique opportunity to build something that massively outperforms competitors. This is the case with Avantia’s Cortex - an intelligent decision-making platform for pricing and rating that it built in 2017.

This has been able to be leveraged in their self-built and unique Holmes tool, to help process live claims. In controlled tests, Holmes helped make Avantia’s fraud detection rate x6 more effective.

But, when it comes to AI in their customer service model? That isn’t where their distinctiveness lies, so there it is better to buy a standard solution, and focus your efforts on the real marginal gains.  

3. Simplify requirements  

Sion Lewis from Ciphr discovered how complexity can often mask the real problem, making companies feel they need to build, when in reality they can simplify their needs into what will move the needle. When he joined, the team was managing systems with hundreds of data points, making it hard to focus on what actually mattered. Sion reflected that they spent too much time focussing on internal finance department requirements rather than on delivering value to their customers. 

The breakthrough came from simplification and asking the right questions. Rather than adding more tools or complexity, Ciphr focussed on streamlining their approach. This shift toward customer value over internal convenience became a guiding principle for their technology decisions.  

4. The importance of organisational adoption

Implementing technology successfully requires getting your teams on board from the start. Ciphr discovered this when implementing new systems. The question isn’t build vs buy, it’s implementation vs embedding. The key wasn't just having the right technology, but ensuring teams understood how it would help them do their jobs better.

This connects to Jesper's principle of thinking "problem first and solution second" rather than getting excited about new tools. When you approach technology decisions this way, every department understands the purpose and aligns on the expected outcomes before you begin building. 

Organisational readiness matters as much as technical capability. Before building, ensure teams understand how the solution fits their workflows and why it will make their work more effective. The best-built solution delivers no value if your teams aren't prepared to adopt it properly. 

5. Learning to fail fast 

The most successful approach involves chunking large investments into smaller, measurable pieces.  Rather than writing big cheques upfront, create use cases that identify which parts should be tackled  first and where the most value lies. 

Avantia's team learned to never write a big cheque in a waterfall approach, and instead deliberately  break everything into bite-sized pieces. When returns diminish, they slow down, switch direction, or move resources elsewhere. 

Post-implementation reviews are crucial, not just asking whether tools delivered expected results but using those learnings to inform future investment decisions. 

The conversation revealed there's no universal answer to build vs buy, but there are universal principles. Focus on competitive advantage, be realistic about organisational capabilities, measure ruthlessly, and remember that technology serves people, not the other way around. 

Simona Everts, Associate in the ECI Commercial Team, reflects on how her international background supports her work with management teams, why she wanted to join ECI, and the chemical element she thinks she’d be.

Q: How did your Chemistry background lead to a career in finance?

When I started my degree, I definitely thought that would be my career, but through my degree I realised I found the time in the lab quite lonely. It taught me I liked the analytical side and spotting patterns, but I wanted to spend my time with people and see the applications of my problem solving in real life. Consulting gave me a great opportunity to do that and then from there it kept my options open to move into private equity. 

Q: What made you want to make that move into private equity, and why ECI specifically?

I was increasingly interested in things that were more long-term or more hands on when it came to value creation, so the Commercial Team role was perfect for me. I didn’t want to just advise companies; I wanted to be there by their side for the challenges they would go through as they scale. The nice thing about this role compared to other private equity firms is that the Commercial Team are also involved from the moment we meet a prospective management team, so from the deal all the way to exit. That really means we understand and are part of the whole process and see the full business life cycle. We can identify value opportunities early and that helps us build conviction in that partnership.

Aside from the role specifics, I’d come across ECI in my previous firm, and they had a really strong reputation. People always spoke about them as a firm that invest in great businesses, and that they’re good people who treat those they work with well. It’s a nice thing about the move from consultancy into private equity – you get fairly good DD on your future employer!

Q: You were born in Italy, grew up in the Netherlands, lived in the UK and America, and now obviously work here. How has that helped you in your work life?

Being able to speak Dutch is helpful in my day-to-day role, but I think more importantly, when you know what it’s like to live in a country or be in a country you’re not from, it gives you a certain openness. You expect to meet people that don’t fit a certain type, you know what it’s like to be different or not to know anybody, it helps you to overcome shyness. I was very shy when I was young, and I remember when I went to school in the UK when I was 8, and I just didn’t speak a word of English, and within two months, I spoke English. You learn to just get on with it, and it does build a certain resilience.  

Q: What does a typical day look like in your role?

It is really hard to pin this down as one of the things I love so much about this role is that there is just so much variety. I jump from doing a piece of data analysis on a portfolio’s competitive landscape to having expert calls or speaking to their customers to understand drivers for a product roadmap, or developing an ideal customer profile… It’s super varied. I suppose the part that is most satisfying is seeing it being received positively, helping management teams to understand something they don’t know about their business, and thinking about where opportunities might lie.  

Q: How do you predict value creation in private equity will change over the next five years?

It’s clearly an area people are investing in, across the whole industry. There’s a lot more competition around deals and higher valuations, which means you need more conviction in value creation opportunities, especially in the context of a tougher macro environment. It’s a key part of how we protect value and make businesses more resilient, enabling them to continue to scale. I think those trends will continue, so it will continue to grow in importance, I suspect with more emphasis on resilience as the world becomes less predictable. That includes macro volatility but also defensibility and the massive growth and margin opportunities in the wake of AI. 

Quick Fire with Simona: 

What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning? 

Variety, definitely. I want to keep learning and solve new problems.  

What chemical element would you be? 

This is a classic chemistry degree question for each new cohort. Lots of people would go with initials – very lazy, also I don’t know what Selenium does… My answer is actually Hydrogen – it’s the simplest and the most essential – who wouldn’t want to be that?  

What is your favourite Dutch term?  

Gezellig – there’s not a perfect English translation, but it effectively means cosiness, but in the sense of a nice atmosphere of togetherness. Similar to hygge, but more like when you have a nice dinner and you’re having fun in the company of nice people. 

What holiday are you planning next?  

I am going skiing in Italy with friends, which is great. One skill I have is I’m a good skier, so I’m really looking forward to it.

What’s your worst habit? 

I didn’t have an answer for this and then I asked my boyfriend, and he immediately said, going on your phone in bed. He didn’t even pause.  

Customer churn can feel like the company equivalent of being ghosted. Where did that customer go, did you even see them leave the party? It can be an incredibly frustrating part of the customer lifecycle, and at scale, it has a direct impact on growth. The good news is that through the use of AI, companies are better placed to understand their customers and anticipate when they are likely to leave, and why. Max Jackson from the ECI Commercial Team shares his top five top tips for using AI to keep customers from doing the digital Irish goodbye: 

Predictive analytics: the crystal ball of churn

AI can now be used to spot a ghoster before they even start fading. By analysing patterns like a drop in usage, a spike in support tickets, or suspiciously quiet buying habits, machine learning models can be used to identify high risk customers and flag when they look like they are about to leave, allowing you to intervene before it is too late.

Personalised engagement: because no one likes generic

Used properly, AI doesn’t do “Dear Valued Customer.” Instead it can be used to segment users into micro-groups and serve up hyper-personalised content - think Netflix recommendations, but for your product. Companies that leverage this ability to segment and customise relevant content will find their marketing efforts driving much higher engagement.

AI chatbots: the customer whisperers

AI-powered chatbots are always on and always polite, and as users get more comfortable talking to a bot there is likely to be further growth in trust and, in turn, use of these tools.  Chatbots are evolving beyond handling FAQs; they can engage inactive users, triage customer queries and suggest next steps, keeping the conversation (and the relationship) alive. The data and insights they capture around customer conversations can also be used to drive product and marketing decisions. 

Sentiment analysis: what are customers really thinking

Natural language processing tools can now be used to scan emails, chats, reviews, and social posts to detect shifts in customer sentiment. Whether it’s subtle frustrations or full-blown disappointment, AI can identify emotional cues across multiple channels and over time, helping you pinpoint where attention is needed most. 

Proactive retention: the digital equivalent of “don’t go!”

The best AI tools won’t just sense a customer is drifting, they can act or prompt a salesperson with the best next action. Whether it’s a timely discount, a helpful nudge, or a reminder on product features and roadmap, there are an increasing number of tools to help reel customers back in before they’re gone for good.

Georgia Ling recently attended the Economist Impact’s AI in Health Summit 2025, where policymakers, healthcare and MedTech providers, and investors convened to discuss how to unlock the potential of AI in healthcare. The real question to debate here is, what is going to tip the balance to drive AI adoption at scale in the health sector?

1. No time to waste on data build

“Good AI” depends on “good data.” Yet what constitutes “good” varies depending on the problem at hand. We all know that progress in healthcare is slower due to legacy systems, siloed and inconsistent data entry across trusts, the multi-modal nature of clinical information, and the sensitivities of patient privacy. This serves to highlight the scale of the opportunity and the appetite for solutions, but also the reality of the challenges at hand. The £1.9bn Frontline Digitalisation Programme and the £10bn NHS Digital Transformation budget for 2025–2029 are steps in the right direction, whereas cross-industry partnerships can help to accelerate standard-setting and data interoperability. HealthTech firms that can help solve the data problem first will be the most valuable.  

Once these foundations are in place, it will open up new data streams (and revenue streams) through the rise of wearables and privacy-enhancing technologies – creating trust and enriching doctor-patient relationships, as well as health outcomes.  

2. Expectations befall reality for AI adoption

Has the promise of AI been realised? At the Summit one hospital reported access to 120 AI tools yet active use of only 5, largely because most were poorly integrated into workflows or misaligned with clinicians’ needs. Adoption of AI tools hinges on expectations and taking people on the journey. What is the promise that is being made? Is it cutting down bureaucracy, improving insight, or more time for patient care? Involving clinicians early in product design helps surface the real pain points and accelerates adoption.   

The same logic applies across the healthcare ecosystem. Payers, providers, and pharma companies are drawn to AI tools that streamline decision-making, reduce uncertainty, and improve pricing or commercial efficiency. When a solution directly accelerates speed to market, sharpens negotiation outcomes, or increases ROI, the incentive to adopt becomes self-evident. Every unused tool is a sunk cost - and a missed opportunity for better care and outcomes. 

3. Balancing innovation with trust

Regulators know that they are playing catch-up to innovators in AI. They recognise the need to facilitate innovation and to encourage experimentation, but equally the need for guardrails in place as patient and clinician trust remains the bedrock for adoption. Thoughtful debate about what constitutes an “acceptable” risk profile in different settings is therefore central to the future of AI adoption. However, given the pace of change and development, will regulators realistically keep up with the cutting edge?  

Conclusion

The Summit highlighted the enormous opportunity ahead if the promise of AI is unlocked. Better data foundations, a deep understanding of the pain points in healthcare and regulatory clarity will be critical enablers, but trust, collaboration, and a willingness to rethink entrenched processes are foundational to innovation, while ensuring patient safety and adoption.

For more information on how we are supporting companies in the healthcare sector, please contact us via the form below.