When you create a new process, or if an existing process breaks down, instead of sourcing a software solution, one of your team probably creates a spreadsheet to bridge the gap. That spreadsheet needs updating manually, so they set a calendar reminder – if they’re organised and proactive. The reminder gets missed occasionally, so they create a backup process. Before long, they’ve built a workaround to avoid the real problem.
Whether you have manual processes, or an off-the-shelf system that “does the job”, creating workarounds can seem like they’re quick and free at the time, but eventually, they become expensive to manage and risky.
Here’s how your workarounds become more expensive than a solution.
The hidden costs of workarounds
Time multiplication across your team
The most deceptive cost of workarounds is how many people and how often your team do it. A five-minute manual process seems trivial until you realise:
- Three people do it
- Twice per day
- Five days per week
- Fifty-two weeks per year
That’s 130 hours annually. When you multiply that by the hourly rate, you’re spending a lot of money on a task that could be automated.
Human error
Every manual step in a workaround introduces the risk of human error. Although some errors are caught immediately, some could take months.
If you work in the Wholesale industry, you may manually update product availability across multiple platforms. The error rate is 2%, which sounds acceptable. Now, calculate the cost of:
- Customer service time handling complaints about unavailable items
- Lost sales from incorrectly marked products
- Reputational impact from repeatedly disappointing customers
- Time spent investigating and fixing each error
Then, calculate the cost of your experienced team maintaining workarounds instead of doing work that actually grows your business.
When solutions become the better option
In our experience working with businesses across manufacturing, wholesale, professional services and travel, there are reliable indicators that you’ve crossed the line:
Multiple people asking, "is there a better way to do this?"
When the same question comes up independently from different people, it’s time for a change. The workaround has become painful enough that multiple people are actively seeking alternatives. This is your team telling you they’re ready for change.
Training new employees takes longer than expected
A solid indicator is when your onboarding process for workarounds is time consuming and the documentation is confusing. If you find yourself saying “it’s complicated, but you’ll get used to it,” you’re describing an expensive problem.
The workaround needs its own workaround
When you’ve created a secondary process to handle the failures of your primary workaround, you’re adding more complexity and fragility.
You're hiring specifically to maintain processes
When you find yourself recruiting someone whose primary role is managing workarounds, you’re now paying recurring salary costs to avoid a one-time licence or subscription-based solution.
Calculating the real cost
Most businesses underestimate workaround costs by 60-80% because they only count the direct time. Here’s a more complete framework:
Direct costs:
- Time spent executing the workaround (weekly hours × hourly rate × 52)
- Time spent training others on the workaround
- Time spent documenting the workaround
Indirect costs:
- Error correction time
- Customer service time handling workaround failures
- Lost sales from delays or mistakes
- Decision-making delays
Growth costs:
- Senior employees time on repetitive tasks instead of strategic work
- Inability to scale processes without hiring employees
- Reduced competitiveness from slower response times
For a typical mid-sized business, we usually find that the true cost of a major workaround is three to five times what they initially estimate.
Why businesses delay despite the maths
Even when the numbers clearly favour a proper solution, businesses often hesitate. The reasons are understandable:
- Paying upfront for software feels expensive, whereas paying the same amount over 1-2 years for your employee’s time feels intangible as it doesn’t immediately impact payroll.
- The workaround exists because implementing a proper solution once seemed too complicated. There’s fear that fixing it will be equally painful. This may be a valid concern, but the pain is temporary rather than perpetual.
- If it’s working 95% of the time, it’s tempting to tolerate the 5%. But that 5% might represent 50% of your actual costs.
Are you ready for a software solution?
The moment workarounds become more expensive than solutions isn’t when they stop working. It’s long before that. By the time something is embedded enough to have its own name or abbreviation, you’re almost certainly paying far more than you should.
We help clients turn their workarounds into software solutions. You may need bespoke software that connects multiple systems and processes, or you need to develop or integrate with APIs. If you need help, contact us today.
