“Too many tools already”
Head of IT Security · Work management and collaboration
A Head of IT Security whose teams keep signing up for tools on their own is dealing with risk they can't see, and wants fewer tools, not more. Don't add to the problem. Offer control, not another app: ask how many tools teams already use, and what visibility they'd want across them.
Practise it before the real call
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What the buyer says
Teams keep signing up for these tools on their own. I need fewer of them, not another.
How to handle it
Listen
Hear "on their own". The worry is shadow IT: tools holding company data that IT doesn't know about or manage.
Acknowledge
Agree that unmanaged tools are a security risk, and that adding another one without control would make it worse.
Explore
Ask how many collaboration and work-management tools teams use today, which hold sensitive data, and how sign-ups happen. Ask what they'd need to approve one tool: single sign-on, data location, admin controls, audit logs.
Respond
Position your product as a way to consolidate onto one managed tool, with the controls they named. Be specific about security features, and offer to answer their security questionnaire.
Say this
“That's a real risk. Tools you don't know about hold data you can't protect.”
Say this
“How many of these tools are teams using today?”
Say this
“What would you need to see to approve one of them?”
Variations
- CISO: “Every new app is another place our data can leak.”
- IT Manager: “We found thirty different project tools on our expense reports.”
Questions people ask
How do you respond when IT security says there are already too many tools?
Agree that unmanaged tools are a risk. Ask how many tools teams use and what controls they'd need, then position your product as one managed tool to consolidate onto, with the security features they named.
How do companies reduce shadow IT in collaboration tools?
Usually by choosing one or two approved tools with proper controls, making them easy to get, and gradually moving teams off unmanaged ones.
More objections in Work management and collaboration
- “We have to work in our clients' tools”
- “We're cutting software spend”
- “Our productivity suite already includes it”
- “We went back to spreadsheets”
Practise it before the real call
Free to start. No credit card.