The real choice is who carries the work after launch.

Compare responsibilities, not features

Feature lists look similar. The difference is who is responsible for each job, week after week.

• Mapping requests and agreeing scope
• Writing and approving the knowledge
• Building and testing flows
• Integration with your systems
• Monitoring, fixing and updating
• Monthly review of what to change

Count staff effort honestly

With a platform, the hours go into setup and then into upkeep: updating prices and policies, reading failed conversations, adjusting flows. With a managed service, staff time goes into approving information, handling escalations and attending reviews. Estimate both in hours per month, not only in licence fees.

Integration and operation

Platforms often provide connectors for common tools; anything else needs a developer. A managed service scopes integration with your system where it allows it, and is responsible for keeping the workflow running when something changes. In both cases, WhatsApp’s policy requires a clear way for customers to reach a person.

Total cost, not the monthly fee

Compare total cost over a year: subscription or service fee, WhatsApp usage, software vendor fees, internal staff hours to build and maintain, and the cost of errors that nobody caught. A cheaper tool can cost more when it needs a person to run it.

When the existing tool is enough

Stay with what you have if it already answers your common questions correctly, someone owns updating it, handover to staff works, and volume is not growing. Change makes sense when requests are being lost, staff are re-asking the same details, or nobody has time to keep the tool accurate.