At some point, most businesses end up with too many tools and too many items in those tools. It never starts intentionally, but before long the business is paying for a lot of tools and not actively using half of them. Of course, we all have those essential tools you set up and let run in the background on their own.
But when information is spread across multiple platforms, finding things takes longer than necessary, and getting solid metrics on those activities becomes a bit difficult.
When different parts of the team work in different tools, collaboration requires constant translation. Most tools that the marketing team uses cannot work for developers and vice versa, so find the balance between what is necessary to support your cross-functional team and what you do not need. It is unrealistic to think one tool can support different needs in a work setting like this.
Here is how to clean it up.
Start with an audit, and don’t assume. Before deciding what to cancel, list everything you have. What tools are connected, integrated, or synced with others? Pull your subscription history and go through it. You might be subscribed to tools you forgot to cancel or have been meaning to cancel.
For each tool, ask yourself and your team, especially the ones using it, a few things: who is using it, what for, and could that be done with something already in the stack? Be honest. A tool used by one person for something another tool already handles should be removed. A tool used daily by multiple people is one you should keep.
Look for similar tools. Two project management platforms running at the same time, two communication tools, or two file storage systems, pick the one that works better and retire the other.
Before cancelling something, migrate important data first, or export it and handle it later if you cannot tackle it immediately. Export data to Excel, download files, and move relevant history to wherever it belongs going forward.
After the cleanup, document your tech stack. What tools you use, what each one is for, and who manages it. When everyone knows what is in the stack and why, a new tool does not get added without a proper conversation.