How Planning Your Software Can Prevent Tech Sprawl

Your business needs software, along with the various integrations it allows for to keep your operations going. A little planning goes a long way, especially if you want to get the best return on your investment. Today, we want to look at how you can find the right mix of software for your business without breaking the bank or experiencing the dreaded “tech sprawl.”

Addressing Tech Sprawl

If your business has too much software or it utilizes too much technology, your network becomes too complicated to manage properly.

This is what tech sprawl is; a problem of management with technology because your network has grown too large and cumbersome to handle. If you don’t have a dedicated software plan in place, tech sprawl becomes that much more likely to occur. You’ll also end up wasting money on solutions that you don’t necessarily need.

One of the biggest and perhaps most surprising reasons that tech sprawl exists is the self-sufficient employee.

Normally, an employee who solves an IT problem on their own might be celebrated, but when they download a new software application—and they do so without going to IT first—it contributes to the tech sprawl problem. A study shows that nearly two out of five employees contribute to tech sprawl through “shadow IT,” which is when a technology is added to your network without the administrator’s knowledge. These solutions are often not managed properly and can quickly become security risks

Of course, there are other problems related to tech sprawl… more than you might expect, too.

The Issues with Tech Sprawl

If you have too many tools for the same purpose, you’ll find that your employees don’t really know which tool to use, and when, which leads to wasted time and productivity.

One area where this is profoundly felt is in communication. People won’t get the full picture of what’s going on, leading to details getting missed and poor teamwork overall. In situations like this, tech sprawl is bad for everyone involved, which means it’s bad for your business.

Furthermore, having loads of software on your infrastructure is expensive, since you have to teach employees how to use them and pay for software licenses.

Of course, this isn’t even mentioning the challenges of securely storing data in multiple locations—or, rather, your inability to do so with too many solutions in place. When data is spread over a large surface area, it becomes harder to protect. This makes securing it from hackers much more difficult.

And no organization wants to deal with security issues.

How to Address Tech Sprawl

If you want to keep tech sprawl to a minimum, we recommend you practice the following:

• Assess thoroughly -  Start by thinking about what your business actually needs and where technology can help make things easier. Don’t just use new tools because they seem cool or because someone else said you should. Make sure they really help.
• Use the same tools for everyone - Decide on a few tools that everyone should use for certain tasks. When everyone uses the same things, it’s easier to work together and avoid confusion.
• Check those tools often - Take time to look at the tools you’re using and see if any are unnecessary or slowing things down. This helps you stay organized and make changes when needed.
• Integrate when possible - Pick tools that can easily connect with the ones you already use. This makes it easier to keep everything in one place and work more smoothly.

For assistance with any of the above, contact SMART Services at 586 258-0650 .