The tool sprawl trap: When more becomes less

The paralysis of too many choices

Whether you’re juggling too many AI tools or frozen by indecision, the result is the same: paralysis.

On one side are organisations drowning in complexity. The average enterprise now runs 67 separate AI applications. Each promises transformation. Each demands its own login, training, and security audit. IT manages 67 vendor relationships. Finance processes 67 invoices. Staff juggle 67 interfaces.

On the other side are organisations stuck at the starting line, overwhelmed by options. Jasper for copywriting? Otter.ai for transcription? Copy.ai for social media? Claude for analysis? Perplexity for research? The paradox of choice has never been more acute.

The hidden cost of fragmentation

Let’s be clear: these tools are individually brilliant. Jasper excels at copywriting. Monday.com delivers exceptional project management. Otter.ai transforms meetings. Each tool, in isolation, delivers on its promise.

But when you need Jasper and Monday and Otter.ai and ten others? Brilliance becomes burden.

Consider Sarah, a marketing director at a UK membership organisation. Her morning starts with ChatGPT (personal account) for ideation. She switches to Jasper for copywriting, uploads to Canva for design, tracks in Monday.com, analyses in Tableau, and collaborates through Slack. Six tools before lunch. Six passwords. Six data silos. And six separate places where sensitive information now lives.

Integration is a daily nightmare. Jasper doesn’t talk to Monday.com. Tableau doesn’t inform Jasper. Each tool operates in isolation, forcing Sarah and her team to become human APIs, manually shuttling information between platforms.

The procurement pandemonium

Each new tool adds an administrative avalanche:

• A separate procurement process
• Individual security assessments
• Distinct user management
• Separate budget approvals
• Multiple renewal dates

Your procurement team, already stretched thin, now manages dozens of AI vendors—each with different terms, compliance rules, and support channels. What started as “let’s try this AI tool” becomes a full-time vendor management exercise.

The training treadmill

Just as your team masters one interface, it updates. Just as they develop workflows in one tool, another is added. The constant learning curve is exhausting.

Staff meetings become tool tutorials: “Has everyone learned the new Jasper interface?” “Who needs training on the Claude update?” “Can someone explain the new transcription tool?” The time saved by AI gets consumed by learning AI.

The security multiplication

Every new tool is another attack surface. Another vendor with access to your data. Another compliance burden to scrutinise.

The nightmare scenario? A “free” tool quietly training on your financial data. A transcription service storing HR recordings on overseas servers. Each tool multiplies risk exponentially.

There has to be a better way

We’re not here to criticise individual tools—they all have their strengths. But for organisations already pressed for time, this level of complexity is unsustainable.

What if, instead of 67 tools, you had one? What if, instead of juggling logins and interfaces, your team worked in a single, secure workspace? What if every capability—from copywriting to analysis, from transcription to research—lived in one place?

That’s why we developed our AI Assistants. Purpose-built in partnership with small and medium businesses that know this challenge first-hand, gecco’s solution is easy to use, tailored, and practical. It saves time, empowers staff, and clears admin fast.

One workspace. One login. One invoice. One security audit. One place where all your AI capabilities work seamlessly together.

Because in 2025, the question isn’t whether you need AI. It’s whether you need 67 different versions of it—or one that works the way your organisation does.