Buy, Build & AI: Your New Software Strategy for Energy Leaders
Energy companies are running into a hard truth: the old “buy vs. build” debate doesn’t match today’s reality—especially as AI moves from experiment to expectation. Cloud-native, modular software ecosystems (open APIs, integrations, and now AI-friendly interfaces) are changing how fast teams can launch, adapt, and scale. At the same time, early enterprise GenAI efforts are showing a gap between hype and measurable ROI, which raises the stakes for leaders who can’t afford multi-year, multi-million-dollar detours.
So what’s the practical question energy executives are asking right now? How do you decide what to buy, what to build, and where AI fits—without getting trapped in technical debt, vendor lock-in, or “pilot purgatory”?
That’s the question at the heart of the latest episode of The CG Hour, hosted by Fanny Dunagan. Dunagan is joined by a panel featuring Joel Wolfe, Nate Richards, and Tanya Shepherd. Together, they map out a modern decision framework—mission-critical vs. market-differentiating, time-to-market, total cost of ownership, data readiness, and the fast-emerging layer of AI-driven “agents” that may reshape how people interact with software altogether.
Key highlights…
- “Build vs. buy” is now “buy, build, and AI”—a continuum. Modern platforms and modular vendors can reduce the blank-sheet burden, but customization can quietly turn a “buy” into a “build” (and bring the same risks).
- Data and integration are the real bottlenecks. Bad data doesn’t just create bad dashboards—it can create confident, automated wrong decisions. The panel emphasizes single sources of truth, governance, and process ownership across the order-to-cash chain.
- AI success is mostly a people problem. Adoption rises when AI capability is embedded with line-of-business teams (not isolated in a central “AI lab”), paired with practical use cases and real training that improves AI fluency.
Joel Wolfe is a technology executive with 25+ years of experience leading IT, cloud, cybersecurity, and digital transformation initiatives across the energy and financial services sectors. He has held senior leadership roles including Vice President of Technology at Medallion Midstream and Vice President of Information Services at J-W Power Company, where he shaped enterprise-wide IT and operational technology strategies in close partnership with executive leadership. Today, as Founder and CIO of Wolfe Global, he advises enterprise leaders and private equity firms on IT strategy, cloud modernization, AI adoption, and serving as a fractional CIO/CISO to drive scalable, secure growth.
Nate Richards is a serial tech entrepreneur and energy markets expert with deep experience building software and data platforms across the competitive energy value chain. As CEO and co-founder of Enerex, he leads strategy, fundraising, and M&A for the #1 retail energy sales platform in the U.S., powering over 10% of commercial and industrial energy transactions and earning multiple Inc. 5000 recognitions. Previously, he founded and scaled Energy Frameworks and Entrance Consulting, combining hands-on software engineering, data integration, and energy domain expertise to deliver industry-defining SaaS platforms and enterprise technology solutions.
Tanya Shepherd is a senior technology and services delivery leader with more than two decades of experience driving large-scale software deployments, operations optimization, and change management across the energy, utilities, and financial services sectors. She is currently Senior Vice President at CG Infinity and previously served in executive leadership roles at Excelergy and Nexant, where she led global teams delivering SaaS platforms, billing systems, and complex customer lifecycle solutions across 100+ markets worldwide. Her core strengths include technology implementation, process reengineering, M&A integration, and building high-performing teams that translate software investments into measurable business outcomes.
Article written by MarketScale.
