Dear Management-Issues...
Our digital tools have become fragmented. Teams are juggling multiple platforms chats, documents, HR systems and ticketing tools - you name it. People often need several tabs open for simple tasks, logins are multiplying and version control is unclear at best.
We want to simplify things, but budgets are tight and IT capacity is limited. Rationalisation attempts often meet resistance because teams have their preferred tools. These small frictions are slowing work down. How do we reduce tool fatigue without disrupting day-to-day operations?
Dave, London
Nigel Davies's Answer:
You're not alone - tool fatigue is a common challenge. The most effective fix is to create a single 'front door' for everyday work and organising specialist apps around it.
Start with the work, not the tech: List the journeys people use most: reading updates, finding policies, completing courses, raising requests, approving tasks, or onboarding. Pick three to five with clear pain points and solve those first.
Create one clean, branded hub where everyone starts their day. Include internal news and a document library. Make it a knowledge base for onboarding checklists, mandatory learning, and common workflows. Personalise by role so new starters see week-one tasks, managers see approvals, and field teams get safety bulletins and offline resources on mobile.
Keep specialist tools but connect them to the hub: Enable single sign-on to reduce logins. Use integrations so requests trigger actions in HR or service tools. Make the hub your source for announcements - publish here, then link from chat and email.
Fix findability with clear taxonomy and metadata. Assign owners and review dates to key pages. Measure tangible outcomes: faster onboarding, fewer "where is this?" questions, shorter approval times, fewer duplicate files.
Plan the switch-offs: Every launch should retire something. Move content, redirect old links, and ensure mobile access works.
Your next step: This month, map your top five journeys. Name owners for news, documents, and learning. Launch a simple front door with two workflows, enable SSO, and create role-based homepages. Retire one redundant tool.
Then repeat.
