Enterprise Cosplay

When talking about software choices, I often hear variations of statements like these: “Every serious organisation in our space uses HubSpot so we should too” or “We need to be on Microsoft because that’s what everyone uses” or “Investors will ask what stack we're on. We need to be on AWS or they won’t take us seriously”.

One thing these justifications have no relationship to is what the software actually does. They’re more concerned with what the software communicates. To clients, investors, competitors…

Researchers calls this “organisational legitimacy”, the concept of organisations adopting tools, processes, or practices to make themselves look credible.

It explains a lot of enterprise overkill: a massive CRM for a team of four, the superfluous cookie banner I talked about yesterday, the Microsoft 365 subscription for a team that just needs email, notes, and a calendar.

The tools aren’t necessarily wrong, sometimes they might be the right choice. But if the reasoning was “it’s what serious businesses use” or “we’ll grow into it”, it might be time for a reflective pause.

Outside perception might not be worth the money, complexity and maintenance. And, let’s be honest here, the perception is often just your own.

The only question to ask is “Does this do what we need?”.

Colin