Tech Tip: Too Much Software Can Lead to Decision Paralysis or Worse

Sometimes with technology, less is more. Implementing too much technology can be a very real problem, especially in terms of the software you choose to implement. There’s a lot to say about having the right IT, but at some point, you have to ask if you are receiving diminishing returns on your investments. Let’s take a look at some of the warning signs and see what you can do about them.

Don’t Overcomplicate Your IT

There are countless solutions to your company’s software-related woes, but having options is not always a good thing. In fact, having too many options can lead to decision paralysis or worse; businesses implementing too many software solutions and ultimately risking their productivity. This is why so many companies use productivity suites. The software sets in these suites are built to play well with each other, streamlining productivity.

Using productivity suites is a great way to challenge shadow IT, which is unfortunately a very real thing, and it’s more prevalent than you might realize. Employees might try to implement their own solutions to problems if you do not have a reliable solution implemented for them. Any software they download could potentially be a vehicle for threats to infect your network, especially when it is not approved by your IT department. Therefore, it is a best practice to help your team best learn your software solutions to minimize the chances of them turning to shadow IT solutions.

Finally, we need to say that maintaining so many individual software programs can be expensive and taxing, both in costs and the hours invested in taking care of each. If you can consolidate your use of software into a productivity suite, then you’ll have an easier time managing both your capital and your time.

Tools Meant to Increase Productivity Do the Opposite

If your team uses too many disconnected pieces of software to get things done, they will ultimately waste time switching between them all throughout the workday to complete various tasks. Jumping between tasks is simply not easy when you have to constantly move from program to program. This is yet another reason why choosing a productivity suite over a patchwork of other solutions is superior, as you don’t want to waste time on tasks if you don’t have to.

Ignoring This Becomes a Huge Challenge

When you use a productivity suite, oversight becomes much easier, as the data required to analyze trends is all located in the same place. The same cannot be said for a hobbled-together collection of hodge-podge software solutions. Suffice to say that if you want to get the most productivity out of your employees and confirm this productivity in the form of key performance indicators, you’ll want to invest in a productivity suite.

At the end of the day, what matters most to your team’s success is to make sure they don’t find themselves in a position where they’re overwhelmed by options or processes. If you can standardize the software they need on a day-to-day basis, then you can make their jobs much easier in the long term.

To learn more, go to: https://www.cwit.com/blog, or reach out to us at (703) 821-8200.

Alan Edwards, CISM, is chief information officer at Computerware, Inc., in Vienna, Virginia.