What is meant is the following: "Buy it or build it?" See the following article:

Buy it or build it? When it comes to self- service applications, the answer isn't so easy. To cut costs, companies are moving away from the call center. Instead, they're putting the bulk of their customer- and partner-assistance services on the Web and other self-service platforms, such as interactive voice response systems (IVR) and so-called virtual agents that can respond via e-mail.