Shiny Tools, Empty Wallets: Why ‘Good Enough’ Is a Strategy
The pace of technology advancement often feels dizzying. New products arrive weekly, each one touted as a game-changer, leap-ahead, transformational. For IT and analytics leaders, the temptation to chase the next big thing can be powerful. But in a world increasingly shaped by commercial mandates and constrained budgets, chasing innovation for innovation’s sake is no longer sustainable.
Two concurrent shifts are colliding to reshape how organizations, particularly in the public sector, approach technology investment.
First, the U.S. government is pushing hard for the adoption of Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products. Federal agencies are being directed to stop developing custom-built platforms and instead rely on commercially available tools. The rationale makes sense on the surface: reduce duplication, save development costs, speed delivery.
But that push comes with trade-offs. What happens when the COTS solution costs four times more than the lean in-house tool it replaces? What if the platform creates vendor lock-in, siphons flexibility, and drifts from user needs? The second trend, growing skepticism of “just-better” technologies, emerges as a natural counterbalance. Many tools marketed as breakthroughs are, in truth, incremental. They polish existing capabilities rather than reinvent them. Often, the in-place tools are “good enough,” especially when paired with better data governance, cleaner workflows, and stronger adoption strategies.
So how should leaders reconcile these two realities? When do you lean into a new COTS platform? When do you double down on your in-house duct-tape solution that actually works?
We’d suggest a simple but often-overlooked principle: Start with the mission, not the tool.
The Illusion of Leap-Ahead Technology
Every product demo looks impressive. Especially when viewed in a clean sandbox environment, with perfect sample data and a charming narrator, the latest tool seems to solve your hardest problems in one click. But in the real world, success rarely comes from technology alone, it’s the interaction between tools, people, and workflows that drives outcomes.
At Storm King, we’ve seen this dynamic up close. One of our clients faced pressure to replace their simple Power BI dashboard, built in-house by a small team, with a pricey enterprise “insight engine.” It promised AI-powered analysis and beautiful reports. But after the switch, the organization found itself paralyzed. Users needed weeks of training. Customizations required expensive consultants. And most importantly, the insight quality didn’t improve. The older solution wasn’t fancy, but it was fast, transparent, and tuned to real user needs.
The lesson? Not every improvement is worth the cost of change. What looks like a leap is often a stumble.
COTS as a Policy, Not a Panacea
The government’s push toward COTS adoption isn’t inherently flawed. There are real benefits to using platforms with built-in compliance, support, and security. But mandates can’t replace judgment. Leaders must be empowered to ask: Which COTS? At what cost? For whom?
COTS solutions can be bloated, opaque, and expensive to sustain. Worse, they often assume one-size-fits-all use cases. When commercial platforms dominate, niche or emergent needs get overlooked. And without internal development capacity, organizations become permanent dependents-able to request features, but never build them.
Meanwhile, some of the most effective systems we’ve seen are low-tech, high-trust. A SharePoint List that evolves through direct user feedback. A Power App created in a weekend that saves 100 hours of manual tracking. These aren’t flashy, but they’re alive. They reflect the organization’s actual knowledge and rhythms.
How to Tell When New Tech Is Worth It
So how can IT leaders make wise choices in this environment?
Here’s a checklist we’ve found useful:
Will it unlock something impossible today?
True leap-ahead technologies open new doors, not just polish old ones. If your team can’t do something today and this new tool makes it feasible, that’s a strong signal.Can we prototype the value with existing tools?
Sometimes, a low-tech proof of concept can reveal whether the promise is real. If the value depends on better logic or cleaner data, not the platform itself, you may not need the upgrade.What’s the exit strategy?
Every new system brings integration and migration risk. Before buying in, ask what it would take to leave. If switching platforms later is impossible, you’re locking your future to someone else’s roadmap.Are users asking for this, or are we imposing it?
Tools succeed when they’re adopted, not just installed. If users aren’t hungry for the new capability, your rollout will struggle, regardless of how advanced the tech is.Does this reduce long-term complexity or add to it?
Sometimes, “better” tools create hidden maintenance costs. The simpler solution that fits well within your current ecosystem often wins in the long run.
Build for Trust and Fit, Not Just Flash
At Storm King Analytics, we’ve spent years helping organizations strike the right balance between emerging technology and grounded execution. We believe in discovery, but also in discernment. Not every shiny object is a star.
The best solutions are often those that emerge through iteration, co-design, and constraint. Not because they dazzle on day one, but because they earn their keep over time.
When evaluating your next tech purchase, remember: It’s not the ingredients. It’s the recipe.
Let’s Talk About What’s Actually Working
At Storm King Analytics, we don’t chase shiny objects-we build systems that last. If your organization is navigating the trade-offs between off-the-shelf platforms and mission-focused solutions, let’s have a conversation. We can help you cut through the noise, assess what’s good enough (and what’s not), and design a path that fits your needs, without the vendor lock-in or sticker shock.