Would You Run Sales Without a CRM? Then Why Are You Running IT Without a Platform?
The Gap No One Talks About
Imagine walking into a sales organization where reps track deals in personal spreadsheets, a few sticky notes, and whatever’s buried in their inboxes. No CRM. No shared visibility. No pipeline reporting. You’d call it chaos masquerading as “process.”
Yet this is exactly how many midsize organizations run their IT environments.
Every other department—Sales, Finance, HR, Marketing—has a system of record that keeps everyone aligned and accountable. Deals live in CRMs. Financials sit in ERPs. HR uses HCM systems. Even Marketing has MAPs and attribution tools.
But IT?
In a surprising number of organizations, the backbone of the company still runs on spreadsheets, email trails, tribal knowledge, and a dozen vendor portals that don’t talk to each other.
The irony is hard to miss: IT is responsible for everyone else’s systems, yet often lacks one for itself.
Let’s break down why that’s a problem, and what needs to change.
What Sales Learned Decades Ago
The rise of CRMs wasn’t just about organizing contacts. It was about giving Sales what they needed to operate as a strategic, measurable, high-velocity function.
Three things happened when CRMs took off:
- Visibility increased. Leaders could see pipeline health, forecast accurately, and identify risks early.
- Processes standardized. No more “my way vs. your way.” Everyone followed the same playbook.
- Reps focused on selling. Less time hunting for information meant more time closing business.
IT is at this same inflection point today.
Instead of pipeline data, IT needs insight into devices, circuits, software licenses, mobility usage, vendors, and expenses. Instead of standardized playbooks, IT needs consistent workflows for sourcing, ordering, support, asset updates, renewals, and billing.
Without a shared system, IT can’t operate at the speed of the business.
The Hidden Cost of “Spreadsheet IT”
If you’ve ever been part of an IT team at a midsize company, you know the drill.
You might see any combination of the following:
- A spreadsheet for mobile lines
- A SharePoint folder for network inventory
- PDFs living inside email chains
- A dozen vendor portals with different logins
- Tickets buried in Outlook
- Invoices scattered across departments
- Knowledge stuck in someone’s head
It feels manageable. Until it isn’t.
I’ve watched teams scramble during outages because no one could remember which circuit tied to which location. I’ve seen companies overpay thousands per month on unused licenses because no one had full visibility. I’ve seen renewals slip because the only reminder was a sticky note on someone’s monitor.
When IT relies on scattered tools, three things happen:
1. No one has a complete view of the environment.
Leaders end up making decisions with partial or outdated information.
2. Teams spend more time reconciling than improving.
Hours disappear into vendor follow-ups, invoice reviews, and tracking down data.
3. Risk increases.
Shadow IT grows, services become redundant, and gaps in support or security widen.
If this sounds familiar, that's not a reflection of your team. It's a reflection of the system you've been handed.
Why IT Needs Its Own Platform
A purpose-built IT platform does for technology management what a CRM does for Sales: it centralizes everything that matters and gives teams a shared source of truth.
Think of what it unlocks:
1. Centralized Visibility
Just as Sales can see every deal from lead to closed-won, IT should be able to see:
- All devices
- All circuits
- All SaaS and collaboration licenses
- All mobility usage
- All invoices across vendors
- All tickets and support cases
- All orders and lifecycle updates
One platform. One login. One real-time view.
2. Standardized Workflows
The IT lifecycle is complex. Sourcing, contracting, ordering, activation, support, renewal, and optimization all involve different people and vendors.
A platform forces consistency: Requests come in the same way. Orders are tracked the same way. Approvals follow the same steps. Nothing slips through the cracks.
3. Better Data for Better Decisions
Sales has forecasts and dashboards. IT should have:
- Usage vs. spend
- Renewal calendars
- Optimization opportunities
- Contract terms
- Cost trends
- Vendor scorecards
- Inventory accuracy
When data lives in one place, leaders can spot waste, negotiate smarter, and plan ahead instead of reacting.
4. Time Back
Ask any IT director where time really goes and you’ll hear the same stories:
Chasing invoices.
Logging into eight portals.
Updating spreadsheets.
Fixing order mistakes.
Finding old contracts.
A platform automates the busywork so the team can focus on security, strategy, and scale—the things that actually move the business forward.
Real-Life Example: The “One Spreadsheet Away From Disaster” Problem
A CIO recently told us about an experience where one of their senior admins retired unexpectedly. For years, that admin maintained the master spreadsheet for 40+ locations, tracking circuits, account numbers, vendors, contracts, and renewal dates.
He was the system of record.
When he left, the team spent months untangling the mess. They found:
- Three circuits that were still billing after sites closed
- Mobile lines no one recognized
- Licenses purchased twice due to bad tracking
- A contract that auto-renewed at a higher rate because no one saw the date coming
It wasn’t a people problem.
It was a platform problem.
No modern department would let one person be the system. IT shouldn’t either.
What IT Leaders Can Do Today
If you’re reading this and nodding, here’s what you can start doing right away.
1. Map your current “system”
List where your data actually lives today. You’ll probably find at least:
- 4–7 spreadsheets
- 3–10 vendor portals
- Email chains
- Tribal knowledge
- A few PDFs no one can locate
Once you see the sprawl, the next step becomes obvious.
2. Identify your biggest friction points
Ask your team where they lose the most time. Common answers:
- Mobility support
- Invoice reconciliation
- Tracking assets
- Renewals
- Vendor follow-ups
- Ticket routing
These pain points usually reveal where a platform creates the fastest wins.
3. Evaluate tools that unify everything
Not software that solves one slice, but platforms that bring together the entire lifecycle:
- Sourcing
- Ordering
- Support
- Asset management
- Invoice management
- Reporting
The goal is the same as a CRM: one place to manage everything.
4. Standardize processes before they scale
A platform is only as strong as the workflows behind it.
Define your playbook early so your system reinforces it—not the other way around.
The Bottom Line
If Sales needs a CRM, Finance needs an ERP, and HR needs an HCM… then IT needs its own platform.
Not a spreadsheet.
Not a portal collection.
Not the mind of one veteran employee.
IT is now one of the largest, most complex spend categories in a company. It deserves the same investment in structure and visibility that every other department gets.
You wouldn’t run Sales without a CRM.
So why run IT without a platform?
