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Are you using too many software services?

The Covid-19 pandemic has abruptly ended a centralised office location for many, with organisations with employees deemed not essential maintaining work-from-home policies for the foreseeable future.

To help people thrive at work and improve organisational resiliency, many businesses have invested in software services to help facilitate everything from project management, to real-time communication and team monitoring. 

The changes to physical dimensions of work and proximity to co-workers are likely to stick in some industries even in the post-pandemic era, so leveraging software for connectivity, productivity, and automation is not only progressive, it’s essential.

I’ve been investing in software for the past ten years because my business has always operated a satellite structure. One of the few benefits of Covid-19 was using some of the quiet patches to review my software investments.

Everything got an audit – Xero, Trello, Frame.io, Dropbox, Linktr.ee, Google Workspace, HubSpot – the list goes on! I looked at if the software was still serving my business, if the team was confidently using it, the cost of use and possible alternatives. This was an eye-opening exercise after allowing my subscriptions to pile up over the years!

The sheer volume of software on offer means over-investing can come with a whopping price tag. Think of it like streaming services. Remember when you had only one, and now you are subscribed to Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Binge and Paramount Plus.

The same overindulgence can quickly happen with software, so it’s a good idea to resolve to understand the benefits of the software and the cost of use – and to review both frequently so that you don’t end up like the thousands of Hootsuite customers, who recently discovered a 10x price increase. 

The subscription for the social media management tool rose from $7.99 to $75.00 per month. Many customers missed the price rise email, only discovering the staggering hike after the company credit card had been billed. Ouch.

It’s also important to keep your options open. New software services are emerging daily, so a solution that may have worked for you six months ago may now be redundant, or a better solution could exist. 

It’s true. There can be too much of a good thing.

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