Most ops teams can correctly identify inefficiencies or snags caused by patched-together processes or hacked-together tools. Unfortunately, it’s common practice to solve those problems by spending capital on new tools to get around the friction. For small businesses just starting their scaling journey, this can be a valid way to approach problems — tools are designed to solve problems after all. And often, acquiring those tools leads to workflow breakthroughs that genuinely improve the business.
However, if this is the go-to strategy with every problem that crops up, daily operations can be disrupted by system bloat — which happens when you have a bunch of niche tools that solve specific friction points in your business’s operation, but none of them talk to each other and often have workflows that run counter to other tools.
Spending money won’t always fix your problems, but finding a way to get the most out of your existing tools just might.
System bloat might seem like it would be something obvious to diagnose, but the truth is, it’s really not. Oftentimes, only your ops team can identify it quickly — and most of the time, they’re not going to have the space (or opportunity) to do the lifting necessary to identify and streamline the bloat out of your workflows.
As with all things in business, it’s a balancing act: spend too long ignoring problems, and suddenly it’s an “all hands on deck” situation to get things back on track. That’s expensive. On the flip side, spending time trying to proactively diagnose bloat can also be expensive; the solution is often to outsource the issue to consultants who are very good at doing their jobs (selling you new tools — you can see the irony).
Okay, but how do you know if you have system bloat?
Workarounds are often necessary in the short term to ensure that your daily operations can keep running — but it’s also a HUGE red flag that something isn’t working. Workarounds are created because either a tool isn’t working properly, or there’s a very large friction point that’s being avoided.
Workarounds and patchwork processes only work as long as things don’t change. And in a business environment with more need for security than ever, a forced update (for the security of your business) can send your teams reeling overnight. Worse, what happens if a part of your tech stack is no longer receiving vendor support and it has to be replaced? Your operations break overnight.
Sometimes, system bloat is purely the result of better tools being added to your existing tech stack, which leaves older software obsolete. Leaving that older software available can sometimes cause process errors between teams, if one team still uses it and another doesn’t, leading to the creation of new workarounds.
Here’s the solution to system bloat: composability.
But why does it work (and what is it)? Simply put, composability is being able to modularly add and remove from your tech stack easily, without your company going up in flames. And if you’re suffering from system bloat, Tailor can help you lean out your tech stack — without having to leave behind what’s working.
When you “go lean” on your tech stack and leverage the power of a composable solution, you can massively improve your business’s performance and insulate it from otherwise inevitable emergencies caused by tech stack failures.
Now that you understand what a composable module is, let's dig into what they do and why they matter for your business.
What this module does: track stock levels by location, manage your warehouse data, and gain real-time reconciliation of your inventory data.
Why composability matters: you can manage your inventory and eliminate overstocks and stockouts.
What this module does: keep track of order and fulfillment status, and manage your customers to keep them happy.
Why composability matters: you can access order data from any of your API-powered online and physical storefronts and cut out the spreadsheets.
What this module does: integrate your various accounting tools and payroll applications so you can manage your spending all in one place.
Why composability matters: you don’t have to pick and choose how you manage your finances — and you don’t have to worry about upgrading to new tools if you outgrow them.
What this module does: manage your purchase orders and interface with your vendors to keep your inventory flowing.
Why composability matters: vendors change and sometimes require custom integrations to work with your business, so your system should be flexible to accommodate.
What this module does: cuts costs and organizes your throughput by managing your production methods, shop floor, and sales forecasts.
Why composability matters: lower your costs and understand how each part of your business is impacted by your production process.
Our flagship product, Omakase (meaning “chef’s choice” or, in this case, “curated selection”), is purpose-built with your business in mind. It’s designed to be a headless frontend: a dashboard without a predetermined user interface. This means we customize Omakase to show you only the information you need to see, rather than everything you don’t.
Omakase helps you escape the costly realm of monolithic ERPs and allows you to focus on what you do best, so you can scale faster and operate more proactively in your niche.
Composability and modularity are designed to maximize your strengths:
Built for speed. Launch new products or open a new digital storefront, and view the results in real-time — without needing to dedicate months to integration projects.
Structured for efficiency. Cut out unnecessary workflows, reduce tasking friction, and get out of managing your business through spreadsheets. Omakase enables you to see your most crucial data, in context, as a single source of truth for your business.
Designed to meet your needs. Instead of forcing you to use tools you don’t need — or saddling your business with long-term overhead — composable ERP modules do exactly what you need them to do, and can be easily improved as you scale.
Monolithic ERPs (or all-in-one software solutions) are designed for legacy businesses — enterprise-scale companies that have a lot of capital and a large-scale infrastructure to support. Using a solution designed for massive companies ultimately forces you into a justification loop: “If I’m going to shell out for the ERP integration, then I need to use everything it comes with.”
That kind of mindset leads to inefficiencies and potentially trying to scale before you’re ready. Worse, a monolithic ERP integration can take over a year, frequently disrupting your daily operations and inflating your software costs during that window.
Now it’s important to understand that monolithic ERPs are good products, but like all good products, they’re most useful for a certain type of customer. If you’re doing $5MM to $50MM in sales, you need the flexibility of a composable solution — something that can grow and change with you, as your business is hardly set in stone. Plus, your business was built in the modern era; you know all too well that trying to scale as a legacy-styled business is too slow (and expensive) to keep up in this market.
Composability is the key to unlocking your potential. Move into new markets this year instead of “maybe next year.” Modularity helps you maximize the power of your existing tools so you can properly grow to meet your customers' increasing demand.
End your system bloat and give yourself the freedom to unlock your next market by booking a demo today. We’ll work with you to discover how our composable ERP modules can benefit your business.
