The B4 Index™

How unique is this software to your company's context? A payroll system works the same everywhere (score 1). Your sales compensation rules are one-of-a-kind (score 5).

High specificity means off-the-shelf solutions will always feel like wearing someone else's shoes. Low specificity means the vendor solved this for a thousand companies before you walked in.

Combines with Strategic Control to form the X-axis (Strategic Differentiation).

Can AI generate 80% or more of this category's core value today, in production? Not in a demo. Not in a blog post. In a real company, handling real workloads, right now.

A score of 5 means you could replace the vendor with an AI solution tomorrow. A score of 1 means the problem requires deep domain R&D, physical infrastructure, or regulatory certification that no model can shortcut. This is the dimension that changes fastest as AI evolves. What scored 2 last year might score 4 today.

Direct Y-axis value. This is the dimension that shifts most during quarterly re-scores.

Does owning this capability give you an edge, or does everyone have the same thing? Email is table stakes (score 1). Your product recommendation engine is how you win (score 5).

When strategic control is high, handing a vendor the keys means handing them leverage over your competitive position. That's a trade-off worth making deliberately.

Combines with Specificity to form the X-axis (Strategic Differentiation).

What percentage of the vendor's features does a typical customer actually use? If you're using 90% of the platform, you're getting your money's worth (score 1). If you bought an enterprise CRM and only use it for contact storage, you're paying for a Ferrari to drive to the mailbox (score 5).

High scores here mean you're overpaying for capabilities you'll never touch. That's money you could redirect to building something that fits.

Combines with Cost Trajectory to determine urgency (how fast you should act).

If SaaS prices are rising while AI makes building cheaper every quarter, that gap is your opportunity (score 5). If the vendor has economies of scale you'll never match and prices are stable, building your own is just burning money (score 1).

This dimension shifts as AI coding tools improve. Categories that scored 2 a year ago might score 4 today. That's why we re-score quarterly.

Combines with Vendor Value to determine urgency.