Great question, but I don't see this much different from other industries or companies with millions or billions of dollars at stake. They don't all roll their own software inhouse, and most companies (hedgefunds or not, small or even large) simply cannot afford to for financial and commercial risk-management reasons unless they can justify the software truly being a core competitive competency.
The same line of inquiry has been evaluated for most 3rd party software that companies rely on. For this specific instance of data collection and cleaning, I'm imagining it's not going to be a much different calculus, although perhaps you'll see a higher percentage of firms choosing to roll their own if they have the chops and pockets (e.g. Two Sigma, Bridgewater, Goldman Sachs, etc.).
I will note that there are commercial mechanisms firms could try to implement to try to limit the downsides in case something like this happens: warranty & damages provisions, and insurance are two come that spring to mind. I'm sure there are numerous other considerations in the age-old "build or buy" cost-benefit analysis.
The same line of inquiry has been evaluated for most 3rd party software that companies rely on. For this specific instance of data collection and cleaning, I'm imagining it's not going to be a much different calculus, although perhaps you'll see a higher percentage of firms choosing to roll their own if they have the chops and pockets (e.g. Two Sigma, Bridgewater, Goldman Sachs, etc.).
I will note that there are commercial mechanisms firms could try to implement to try to limit the downsides in case something like this happens: warranty & damages provisions, and insurance are two come that spring to mind. I'm sure there are numerous other considerations in the age-old "build or buy" cost-benefit analysis.