Tool sprawl in finance analytics

It starts innocently. The Sales team buys Salesforce and Tableau. Finance has SAP and uses Power BI. Marketing loves Looker. And controlling runs the world on Excel.

Five years later, you have:

• Three different "BI Portals"
• CHF 200k/year in overlapping license fees
• Massive confusion about which report is "official"

The Cost of Sprawl

The license fees are the visible tip of the iceberg. The real cost is Cognitive Load and Data Maintenance.

Every tool needs a data pipeline. Every pipeline needs maintenance. When a definition changes, you have to update it in three places. You will miss one. Now you have conflicting numbers.

How to Consolidate (Without Rebellion)

You can't just ban tools. People use them for a reason.

1. Map Capability, Not Brand

Don't ask "Do you like Tableau?" Ask "What specific chart capability do you need?" Usually, current tools are 90% overlapping functionality.

2. Identify the "System of Record"

Decide which platform hosts the Executive Reporting. This is non-negotiable. Departmental analysis can happen in other tools, but the Board Pack comes from The Platform.

3. The Sunset Plan

Pick the legacy tool with the lowest usage-to-cost ratio. Give users a 3-month window:

• Month 1: Announce sunset. Offer migration help.
• Month 2: Read-only mode.
• Month 3: Turn it off.

Conclusion

A single source of truth requires (ideally) a single pane of glass. Reducing tool sprawl is one of the quickest ways to improve data governance and reduce IT opex.

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