A buddy of mine has both a laser and CNC punch. The laser is used
most because of the faster setup times and increased flexibility.
The CNC punch being very labor intensive to setup and maintain is only
used for products having either high volume or special features.

The laser works best on ferrous alloys and pretty poorly on
stainless. If you need a clean break on stainless the post cleanup
can erase any gains obtained by laser cutting. If the part is simple
but has a grid of holes the punch will beat the laser. A punch can
also do louvers, dimples and other simple forming operations.

The real trick in a small shop is to maximize the up time of the laser
by converting the majority of the jobs to that machine and still have
enough punch work available to justify keeping a full time punch
operator on the payroll.