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Iterna

We use too many different systems

Each tool was a sensible decision on its own. Together they hold different pieces of the same information, and nothing reconciles them but a person.

This usually looks like

  • The same customer exists three times with three different spellings
  • Someone exports from one tool to import into another
  • You pay for a tool nobody uses
  • Reporting means opening five tabs
  • Adding a staff member means creating five accounts

Why it happens

Systems accumulate. A tool gets bought to solve one department’s problem, then another department buys a different one, and neither purchase was wrong at the time.

What nobody owns is the space between them. Every tool assumes it is the centre of the business, so the job of keeping them agreeing falls to whoever notices the mismatch first.

What we’d do about it

  1. 01

    Map where each piece of information lives

    Which system holds the real version of a customer, a booking, a staff member or a payment — and which ones hold a copy that drifts.

  2. 02

    Decide between connecting, consolidating and replacing

    Connect them when each tool does its own job well. Consolidate when two tools overlap and one can go. Replace only when a tool is the actual constraint.

  3. 03

    Build the joins, or the system that removes them

    Either information moves between the tools automatically, or the work moves into one system and the copies stop existing.

Connect, consolidate, or replace

Connecting is right when every tool earns its place and the only problem is that information has to be re-entered. It is the cheapest option, it keeps what your team already knows, and it can usually be done tool by tool.

Consolidating is right when two tools overlap and neither is doing the whole job. Moving to one of them, or to a system that covers both, removes the reconciliation rather than automating it.

Replacing is right when a tool cannot do what the business now needs and cannot be connected to — no way to get information in or out, or a licence cost that no longer matches the value. It is the most expensive option, which is why it should be the last one considered rather than the first.

Most of the businesses we talk to need a mix: keep three tools, connect two of them, and retire one nobody was using.

What it costs to leave alone

The obvious cost is the time spent exporting, reformatting and re-keying. The real cost is that nobody trusts the numbers, because two systems can both be plausible and disagree.

It also gets more expensive to fix over time. Every month of divergence is another month of records that will have to be reconciled when the systems are finally joined up.

Where to go next

List the tools you’re paying for.

Tell us what each one holds and where someone has to move information by hand. We’ll tell you what to connect, what to consolidate and what to leave alone.

Tell us your problem