Managing email signatures is one of those seemingly minor IT jobs that seems easy on the surface—until it’s not.
What starts as a script or mail flow rule quickly turns into a brittle, time-consuming system that IT teams struggle to maintain. And when internal builds break, the fallout hits productivity, security, and compliance.
Our latest report, Build vs. buy: The true cost of DIY IT solutions, surveyed more than 2,000 IT and security professionals. It shows the hidden toll of building in-house and why more teams are choosing to buy instead.
Why email signatures are a small tool with big risk
On the surface, email signature management looks like a simple internal task. Teams use native settings like Append Footer in Google Workspace, mail flow rules in Microsoft 365, or Group Policies in Active Directory to control the basics. Some build entire tools using templates and scripts in an effort to automate updates. It often feels like the efficient, pragmatic thing to do.
But internal builds rarely hold up. In fact, 71% of in-house IT tools are eventually abandoned, with 64% causing avoidable downtime and user errors.
As compliance expectations are updated and cloud platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace continue to evolve, in-house solutions struggle to keep up. What started small quickly becomes a liability, especially when email signatures are tied to regulatory, legal, or brand-critical communications.
Missed disclaimers, outdated contact details, and inconsistent formatting are more than just annoyances. They’re operational risks. And when your email signature solution becomes another IT ticket backlog item, you lose efficiency, visibility and control.
The true cost of building solutions internally
DIY systems often look cheap on paper. But the costs are usually higher than expected:
- 63% of teams spend 10–50 hours per month on maintaining DIY solutions. Another 27% spend 51–100.
- 46% say their most recent in-house build cost 1.6–2x more than planned. Another 17% spent more than twice the original estimate.
- Most teams miss ROI targets, turning “quick wins” into sunk costs.
Add up the hours, the headcount, the time diverted from other priorities, and what started as a quick fix turns into a long-term time sink. It’s not just about how much the tool costs to build—it’s about what teams stop doing to support it.
And the risk isn’t just financial. As developers move on, documentation becomes outdated and tribal knowledge goes with them. That makes every update and fix harder and slower.
Security and compliance: The overlooked risk
Most DIY signature tools don’t meet enterprise security standards. They lack the audit trails, certifications, and visibility that regulators (and security teams) expect.
- 71% of CTOs say vendor solutions are more secure than internal builds.
- DIY systems rarely meet GDPR, SOC 2, or ISO 27001 standards.
- When a homegrown system fails, the liability falls squarely on internal teams.
This is especially risky in regulated sectors—like finance, healthcare, and legal—where even a small compliance error can trigger audits, fines, or reputational harm. Without centralized controls or defensible audit trails, in-house tools expose organizations to unnecessary risk.
The productivity drain on IT
Every hour spent managing or debugging an internal signature tool is time IT doesn’t get back.
- 91% of IT leaders say maintaining in-house tools takes away from innovation.
- 64% report recurring failures/downtime linked to DIY builds.
Email signature tools built on PowerShell are especially fragile. Microsoft Exchange EOL updates recently rendered many older scripts invalid, forcing teams to rebuild or start from scratch.
The vendor advantage for email signature management
Buying from a vendor like Exclaimer removes the guesswork and grunt work from email signature updates. You get:
- Automated email signature management
- Seamless integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
- Built-in security, compliance, and user provisioning
- SLAs and guaranteed uptime
- Regular feature updates
When you work with a trusted signature management vendor, you get enterprise-grade resilience, scalability, and support. And you’ll never have to create and maintain systems for features that already exist.
Exclaimer is secure by design, backed by third-party audits, global certifications, and enterprise-grade controls. We’ve already built the infrastructure—so you don’t have to.
Stop coding. Start scaling.
If you’re still writing scripts to manage email signatures, it’s time to rethink your approach.
With Exclaimer:
- IT keeps control—without the overhead
- Marketing gets consistent branding
- Legal and compliance stay aligned
With DIY tools, every update becomes a project. With Exclaimer, it’s just a policy change. That’s what scalable email signature management looks like.
About The Author
Senior Content Manager
Dave is a marketing expert with 15 years experience in the tech and SaaS world. He specializes in educating IT and channel audiences, with a focus on security, privacy, compliance, and marketing technology. With a talent for storytelling and a deep understanding of the industry, Dave transforms complex IT topics into clear, engaging, and impactful narratives.
Willis, D (18/12/2025) The hidden costs of building email signature solutions in-house https://exclaimer.com/blog/the-hidden-costs-of-building-email-signature-solutions-in-house/?utm_medium=via-campaign-referral&utm_source=espc&utm_campaign=fy25_buildvsbuy&utm_content=blog
