Software Sprawl: Too Many Apps, Not Enough Connections
Most growing businesses now run dozens of apps. The problem isn’t the apps, it’s the data moving between them, and that nobody owns the connections
- 20+ years connecting business systems
- Works with Xero, MYOB and the systems you already use
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How Businesses Got Here
Ten years ago most businesses ran on one or two big systems. Today a typical growing business uses a separate app for almost everything: Xero or MYOB for the accounts, a job or field system, a CRM, rostering and payroll, stock, quoting, approvals, file sharing, and now AI tools. Each app does its own job well. The trouble is everything between them.
Customers, jobs, orders, hours and invoices have to get from one app to the next. Sometimes a built-in connector does it, sometimes a Zapier flow, often a person with a spreadsheet. Nobody is responsible for the whole picture, so details get typed twice, numbers stop matching, and a connection quietly fails until someone notices at month-end.
This is often called software sprawl, or SaaS sprawl. It isn’t a reason to stop using good software. It’s a reason to decide how your apps fit together, and who looks after the connections.
By the Numbers
What the research says, with the source and date for each figure.
used on average by businesses with 50 or fewer staff
Counts only apps connected to single sign-on, so the real number is usually higher.
used on average by businesses with up to 500 staff
Same caveat: a minimum, not a full count.
average for Australian companies, in a single year
Covers businesses of all sizes, not only small ones.
Source: Okta, Businesses at Work, 2024
of Australian businesses actively collected or analysed their data in 2024–25
Plenty of apps; very little joined-up use of the data in them.
Source: ABS, Characteristics of Australian Business 2024–25 (released June 2026)
of Australian small businesses said their 2025 technology spending improved profit
Spending on software doesn’t pay off by itself.
Source: CPA Australia, Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey, April 2026
lost to switching between apps and refocusing
Measured in large companies; a useful indication, not a small-business figure.
Source: Harvard Business Review, 2022
Why it’s getting harder, not easier
The apps keep changing underneath you. From 2 March 2026 Xero moved apps that connect to it onto paid developer plans, and on 1 September 2026 MYOB retired the broad permission many integrations relied on, so connections stopped syncing until an MYOB administrator reconnected them. New AI tools are adding still more apps, often bought on a credit card outside any plan.
Most of the app-count research comes from companies that sell software-management tools, and much of it is based on larger businesses, so treat the exact numbers as a guide. The direction is clear: more apps, and more data moving between them.
Signs of Software Sprawl
If several of these sound familiar, the joins between your apps need attention.
- The same customer, job or supplier details are entered in two or three apps
- Reports are rebuilt in Excel because no single app has all the numbers
- A connector or Zapier flow stopped working and nobody noticed for weeks
- Staff have bought apps on a credit card that nobody else knows about
- You pay for several apps that do overlapping jobs
- When someone leaves, nobody is sure which apps they could still log into
How Data Moves Between Your Apps Today
Most businesses use a mix of these. Each has a place; each has a way of breaking.
Retyping
Someone copies details from one app into another. Simple to start, but slow, error-prone, and it stops when that person is away.
Export and import
A spreadsheet is exported from one app and imported into another. Works for occasional moves, but formats drift and nobody checks what didn’t come across.
Built-in connectors
Many apps connect to Xero or MYOB out of the box. Use them when they fit. They often move some of the data, but not the jobs, tracking categories or rules you actually use.
No-code tools
Zapier, Make and similar tools join apps with ‘when this happens, do that’ rules. Great for simple steps; risky when a business process depends on dozens of flows nobody documented.
Custom API integrations
A connection built on each system’s official API, with logging and alerts. The most reliable option for important data, and the one that needs a clear owner.
A reporting layer
Data from several apps brought together in one place for reporting, so owners see one set of numbers without anyone building a spreadsheet.
What to Do About It
You don’t need fewer good apps. You need them to work as one system.
List every app and what it holds
Which apps you pay for, who uses them, and which customer, job, stock or money data lives in each. Most businesses find a few they had forgotten.
Decide which system is the master
For customers, jobs, items, staff and money, pick the one system where each is created and kept right. Everything else reads from it.
Fix the connections that matter
Use built-in connectors where they genuinely fit, and build proper integrations where they don’t, starting with the ones that cost the most time or cause the most errors.
Give the connections an owner
Someone responsible, with alerts when a sync fails and notes on what moves where. Platform changes like Xero’s and MYOB’s in 2026 are much easier when this is in place.
Cut what you don’t need
Once the picture is clear, retire apps that duplicate others and licences nobody uses.
Want the whole picture mapped for you? That is what our Process & Systems Audit does.
Common Questions
Related: business systems not talking to each other, systems integration, one source of truth and Xero and MYOB integration.
How Many Apps Does Your Business Run?
Tell us which apps you run and where the data gets stuck. We’ll tell you honestly what to connect, what to keep and what to drop.
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