Introduction: The Paradox of Progress
Your systems were meant to save time, unlock productivity, and give you a clearer view of your business. But for many mid-sized consumer goods companies, they’ve become a barrier.
Instead of delivering simplicity, technology has layered complexity. Teams are stuck managing manual workarounds, wrestling with disconnected tools, and spending hours compiling data that should be available at the click of a button.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone and you’re not broken. But it might be time to ask: are your systems holding you back?
The Admin Burden is Real (and Costly)
The average employee now spends nearly 60% of their time on ‘work about work’ tracking down information, switching between tools, and duplicating data entry
https://asana.com/resources/why-work-about-work-is-bad
That’s a staggering loss of time and energy that could be focused on customers, product, and strategy.
In mid-sized organisations, this burden falls disproportionately on high-value talent: sales managers stuck building reports, ops teams chasing updates, and finance bridging the gap between systems that don’t speak to each other.
It’s Not the Tech. It’s How You’re Using It.
According to David Rice, most companies don’t use around 45% of the features available in their existing systems.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-45-all-software-features-production-never-used-david-rice
Yet the default solution is often to buy more: new apps, new licenses, more complexity.
But what most businesses need isn’t more tech; it’s a better strategy for making what they have work.
Signs Your Systems Are Failing You- The red flag to look out for
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Manual reporting between platforms
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Teams using shadow systems like Excel to ‘fill the gaps’
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Lack of visibility into true performance by product, customer, or channel
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Staff frustration or churn due to low-value, repetitive work
A Smarter Way Forward: Integration Over Innovation
Instead of buying your way out of system pain, consider these steps first:
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Map your workflows end-to-end and look for duplication
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Rationalise tools that don’t integrate or overlap
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Automate small tasks using what your platforms already offer
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Invest in training to improve team confidence and system fluency
Final Thought: Do Less, But Do It Better
The goal isn’t more dashboards or more data, it’s better decisions, faster. That comes from clarity, consistency, and connected systems.
So before you chase the next big platform, ask a simpler question: how can we make what we already have work better?
If this is striking a chord and you'd like to explore how to simplify and scale without the tech bloat, book a no-obligation 30-minute call with our team.
