All-in-one software solutions have a lot of benefits. They give you access to multiple tools for a single price, they keep your data or assets centralized, and they cut down on daily “switching cost” — time wasted moving between apps. For some people, they’re a great option. But like most things, they’re not perfect and they’re not for everyone. It’s important to understand the downsides of all-in-one applications before making an expensive purchasing decision.
Key Takeaways
- All-in-one software has downsides that many people don’t consider, including paying for features you’re not using, wasting time on an overcomplicated system, becoming stuck in a single system, and settling for features that aren’t “best in class.”
- All-in-one applications are good for some businesses, but businesses concerned with efficiency and growth should choose “best in class” solutions that meet their needs, help them grow, and are constantly improving.
- In a survey conducted by Carrot, 60.4% of real estate investors said they’re willing to pay for the most effective tools, even if it’s different products versus an all-in-one marketing solution. When it comes to driving business, power and efficacy are more important than a wide selection of features.
- You can audit how much you’re using your existing all-in-one software and how effective the features are with this free Software Usage Assessment Worksheet
Table of Contents
- Master of None
- All-in-Ones Offer Features in Place of Power
- Paying for Features You Don’t Need or Use
- Is Your All-in-One Actually Slowing You Down?
- Who are All-in-One Solutions Good For?
- Wait, doesn’t Carrot offer more than one solution?
- Understand the Benefits and Limitations
Everyone talks about the benefits of all-in-one apps. Now, let’s take a critical look at some of the downsides.
Masters of None
One of the first questions to ask yourself when considering an all-in-one is, “How good are the individual features?” While an all-in-one app may technically offer a feature, does that feature meet your needs and work well? If you were looking at just this feature, how does it compare to alternative solutions? Oftentimes, all-in-one solutions add features to make their product look more appealing and meet user wants, but it may be treated as just checking a box. A feature that doesn’t function well or live up to industry standards doesn’t really solve your need. If you’re relying on subpar features, your competition using best-in-class solutions will absolutely overtake you.
Also ask yourself, “How often is each feature updated?” All-in-one providers often stretch themselves thin with complex feature suites, meaning many features are launched when they’re “good enough” and never updated or innovated. Large companies with hundreds of employees may be able to pull it off, but smaller companies don’t have the manpower to adequately maintain and support a large number of features — especially if you expect them to keep innovating to keep up with the market.
Dedicated software providers aren’t stretched as thin, allowing them to put their full time, attention, and resources into maintaining, improving, and innovating a focused set of solutions.
All-in-Ones Offer Features in Place of Power
Do you want power and functionality, or do you want a lot of options that only work so-so? For companies that want to grow and succeed, the answer is clear — you want the tools that actually work.
In a survey conducted by Carrot, 60.4% of real estate investors said they’re willing to pay for the most effective tools, even if it’s different products (versus an all-in-one marketing solution). When it comes to driving business, power is more important than a wide selection of all-in-one features.
Companies that offer specialized software can build more features within that software. That one solution is their entire world, so they focus wholeheartedly on its effectiveness and depth.
Vetting and selecting different software may seem daunting, but if it helps you close more deals, it’s worth the effort. The key to building your own custom software suite is finding solutions that integrate well together. This lets you choose whatever solution works best for your needs, instead of simply taking the features and capabilities an all-in-one thinks you need.
Pro Tip: If you do choose an all-in-one solution, make sure it allows outside integrations. Otherwise, you are fully locked into their features. If they change a feature, remove a functionality, or simply never improve their existing features, you’re stuck with what they offer. This also means you can’t use best-in-class tools that may offer a better experience or more functionality.
Paying for Features You Don’t Need or Use
Feature-rich all-in-one solutions often mean a lot of features that you’re paying for but not actually using. It may not sound like a big deal, but you could be wasting money on a subpar product.
Here’s a quick way to assess an all-in-one’s fit if you already have one or if you’re considering one.
Evaluating Your Existing All-in-One
If you currently have an all-in-one solution, document how many of the features you’re actively using, then divide your total cost by that number to get a rough idea of how much you’re paying per feature (don’t forget to account for add-ons or usage-based pricing). If you want to take it a step further, give each feature you use a grade based on how effective it is and how much it meets your needs. If a feature has a low score, spend some time looking at single solution alternatives to see if switching would be better. While the standalone software might seem more expensive, consider how it will improve your efficiency, insights, lead generation, or overall revenue. If it will improve your business outcomes, it’s likely worth the price.
Download our Software Usage Assessment Worksheet
Assessing a Potential All-in-One
If you’re considering an all-in-one, write down the problems you’re trying to solve, then evaluate its features. This way, you won’t be blinded by all the bells and whistles that you don’t actually need. Especially if you’re a newer investor, don’t overly plan for what you want to do; focus on what you need to do right now. If you’re not ready to spend the money on direct mail, you don’t need software that offers a direct mail option right now. Focus on one channel first, then, when you’re ready to expand, look for the right solution at the time.
For more beginner tips, download “5 Priceless Lessons from Million Dollar Real Estate Investors”
Building your software suite as you go based on need ensures you always have the right-fit solutions in place rather than relying simply on what’s offered.
Is Your All-in-One Actually Slowing You Down?
It’s a common belief that all-in-ones cut down on switching costs — and that’s true. But they can also cause unnecessary distractions.
When you’re in a single-purpose software, you’re doing one thing — editing your website, creating a marketing asset, following up with leads, whatever that software does. But if you’re in an all-in-one that does everything, it’s easy to get distracted by all the things you could be doing. You may go into the software to follow up with leads but find yourself building a new direct mail campaign. Before you know it, that lead follow up you were supposed to be doing is at best delayed, at worst completely forgotten.
This is particularly true for teams. You may have good self discipline and focus, but can you say the same for everyone on your team. While teams may save time not switching between apps, they can also lose a lot of productivity to distraction or completing tasks that are more appealing but less profitable.
Who are All-in-One Solutions Good For?
All-in-one solutions clearly have their place (otherwise they wouldn’t be so prevalent). The key is understanding when an all-in-one is a good fit and when it might actually hurt your business.
| Who All-In-Ones are Good For | Who All-In-Ones Aren’t a Good Fit For |
| One-person teams who want to move quickly and don’t have to worry about how a team works with the app. | People managing teams who need to make sure the app is easy for everyone to use and keeps their team focused on the task at hand. |
| Businesses that are comfortable with their current state and don’t want to scale. | Companies that want applications that actively help them grow. |
| People who are happy using the features offered and don’t want to look for better solutions or different feature sets. | Teams that want the best-in-class tools with deep functionality to ensure maximum impact and efficiency. |
Wait, doesn’t Carrot offer more than one solution?
It’s true, we do. We have Carrot Web and CarrotCRM. The difference is, it’s not a closed ecosystem. While the two softwares fully integrate and work wonderfully together, you can connect a different CRM to your Carrot website or use CarrotCRM with any other website or simply upload your offline leads. You don’t have to use them together and we treat them as two separate solutions.
They also have different engineering teams who remain dedicated to maintaining and improving the individual products. CarrotCRM was originally InvestorFuse, and their entire engineering team joined Carrot when we acquired that company in XXXX.
Because they’re treated separately, you see things like continuous solution improvements and new features being added to web and CarrotCRM designed to improve each solution experience.
Here’s a quick recap of some of the most recent improvements and feature releases …
| Carrot Web | CarrotCRM |
| Call Tracking (but you can still integrate an outside solution if you prefer!) | New AI features |
| Site speed improvements | Constantly improving dashboards |
| LLMs.txt file auto-generation to help with AI search visibility | KPI TV dashboard |
Understand the Benefits and Limitations
At the end of the day, whether you choose an all-in-one or bespoke software comes down to your specific needs and values. But understanding the drawbacks as well as the benefits is an important part of the process.
Take time to document what you’re trying to achieve, what’s most important, and what functionality you actually want out of software, then find the best solution. And remember, just because you’ve implemented one solution doesn’t mean you can’t switch. If it’s not working for you or your team, find something that does. Wasting time trying to make a poor fit work ultimately wastes money.