IT at the Modern Small Business

If you run a small business today, IT probably looks a bit like this: you've got a website (hopefully one that doesn't crash too often), some kind of productivity suite—whether that's Google Workspace or Microsoft 365—and a handful (or maybe even dozens) of third-party apps you've accumulated along the way. These apps handle essential business tasks like accounting, customer management, marketing, and maybe even internal communication.

Sound familiar? You're not alone.

The thing is, most small businesses didn't set out with a clear IT strategy in mind—they just started solving problems as they popped up. Need invoicing? You grab QuickBooks. Email marketing? Hello, Mailchimp. Project management? Trello or Asana to the rescue.

This isn't inherently bad, but it often creates what's known as "software sprawl": lots of apps, none of which really talk to each other, and nobody on the team tasked with managing them all. Soon, you're juggling passwords, paying for tools you don't fully use, and spending precious hours troubleshooting glitches instead of focusing on growing your business.

Software sprawl also leads to another common issue: fragmented data. Your customer information might live partially in your CRM, partially in a marketing automation tool, and maybe even a bit more in spreadsheets or emails. Getting a single view of your business becomes a herculean task, which means important insights get missed, and decisions are made with incomplete information.

On top of that, security becomes a worry. Each additional app or platform increases your exposure to potential breaches or data leaks. Without someone actively overseeing these systems, how confident are you really that everything is secure?

So, what's the fix?

The truth is, you don't need an enterprise-level IT department to tackle these problems—but you do need someone paying attention. A clear, coherent IT strategy isn't about having fewer apps necessarily, but about having the right ones—integrated thoughtfully, managed proactively, and monitored continuously.

By periodically auditing your tech stack, streamlining your apps, and making sure they all play nicely together, you can transform your software from a frustrating burden into a genuine asset. Suddenly, technology empowers your team, your productivity soars, and your business feels more manageable.

The goal of IT in a modern small business isn't complexity—it's simplicity and effectiveness. It's about making sure technology works for you, rather than against you.

So, if software sprawl is starting to feel all too familiar, maybe it's time for a fresh look at your IT. Not because IT itself is exciting (though we think it can be!), but because what it enables you to do definitely is.