Built to be sold to everyone, generic software ends up fitting no one in particular. The gap gets papered over with spreadsheets, sticky notes, and tribal knowledge — the quiet tax of a tool that never quite fit.
The cost you don't see on the invoice
The real expense isn't the subscription. It's the workarounds: the export-to-Excel step, the second system of record, the new hire who needs three weeks to learn which fields to ignore.
If your team has a spreadsheet that 'fixes' the software, the software didn't fit.
Signs the tool is fighting you
- Shadow systems — the real work happens in a spreadsheet next to the app.
- Onboarding that's mostly about what to ignore.
- Reports that need to be rebuilt by hand every time.
Software shaped to your industry doesn't have these seams. If that sounds like what your team needs, get in touch.