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Dmytro Suslov

Mono-products or a sets of tools?

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Hello everyone! There are two approaches to create business management tools. The first is mono-products that have only one key feature. For example, Salesforce or Hubspot as a CRM, Trello as a task manager, Slack as an internal communication tool. The second is a set of tools, where you can find a bunch of different features in one interface. For example, Monday, Notion or Uspacy. Each approach has its pros and cons. Which one do you like more and why? What do you choose — several mono-products for different features or comprehensive all-in-one solutions?

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Наталья Григорьева
Hello Dmytro! I prefer the second option, because having a ready-made solution is more convenient than looking for the right products for each individual task for a long time.
Dmytro Suslov
@natasha_matt But complex solutions may not have a complete set of everything you may need
Kyrylo Melnychuk
All-in-one, indeed, because it's easier to manage. At least you don't need to remember all of the tools you gave employees access to when you need to disable their accounts 🙃
Dmytro Suslov
@loginincorrect Yes, it can be a big problem. I know the one company than uses more than 300 IT-systems simultaneously.
Kyrylo Melnychuk
@suslovcomua I think their IT team have a pain in the ass)
Valeriia Bashkirova
All-in-one solutions, but when it consists of well-balanced features that supplement each other. Sometimes product may have a lot of different features and this leads to the lack of understanding of purpose of the product.
Dmytro Suslov
@valeriiabashkirova Can you give an example of such a product?
Valeriia Bashkirova
@suslovcomua For example, Facebook. Very popular and the largest social network in the world. I think, all of us like FB and use it every day. But how often we play game via Facebook? Or how often we check the information in Climate Science Information Center? Or in Crisis Response? Of course, the goal of two last features is essential, but…FB is still social network.
Dmytro Suslov
@valeriiabashkirova Climate Science Information Center??? OMG )
Yuliia Voloshynova
But what if my daily work tool only has one key function? I'm a designer, so I use Figma every day
Dmytro Suslov
@yuliiavoloshynova This is a very interesting question. It seems to me that over time, tools like this will have collaboration tools. For example, Figma will someday make both a task manager and a chat for communicating in teams.
Spartak Polishchuk
@yuliiavoloshynova @suslovcomua or Figma will make some good integrations with other all-in-one tools to save resources and focus on developing their key features in design making
Aphelia T.
Business-wise, both models have pros and cons as you said - for instance, adding more and more features to the existing product people like and use may be good since they would probably stick to the product and have everything at once. But with more product complexity, it's harder to sustain it and also be the best on the market; as people may start losing the focus what your product is about and best for. As a user though I can say that having a set of tools in one product is more handy. But, what I have noticed with adding or having a bunch of tools in one product, companies tend to add or increase a subscription fee. And usually with paying fees come higher expectations which are not always met. Thus, I'd say - a good working solo instrument is better than a bunch of semi-working in one place :)
Dmytro Suslov
@technufllc I agree with you, a set of tools in one interface is very convenient. Only if it is a very well made set with professional tools.
Aphelia T.
@suslovcomua and that's probably one of the biggest challenges for the development team, assuming all the possible connections between the different elements of the platform.
Dmytro Suslov
@technufllc It's not about integration. I'm talking about native elements of a single system.
Oleksandra Khytyk
I prefer all-in-one because I don't want to figure out and look for a better tool for each action. I prefer to concentrate on my performance and current job
Nuno Reis
I'd rather have an aggregator of mono tools than one product that promises they can be good at everything. Spoiler alert: They can't :P All-in-one does have utility of course, otherwise they would not exist, I use Notion for example, but then we get into specific needs, and that's when specific tools get into play, where Notion and such don't cut it.
Dmytro Suslov
@nuno_ms_reis No one can be good at everything) Even cool professional products almost always need to be implemented according to the specific needs of the user
Nuno Reis
@suslovcomua 100% agreed! The question then becomes, how can we connect products, and how can we make those implementations as easy as possible ;)
Aida Zu
Great question. I think the answers lay in the direction you want to grow. Two ways here: 1. You want to grow ecosystem 2. You want to deep dive into the technology So, if your business is more technological, solutions - then mono If not, you definitely need to build an ecosystem. P.S. I don't really consider Hubspot as a mono product, they have CMS, and many other cool things for very diverse needs.
Dmytro Suslov
@aidai_zu I think an ecosystem and a toolkit are very different things. As for the rest, I agree with you.
Vlad Golub
Why choose between mono-products and all-in-one solutions when you can have both? It's like having a toolbox with one super tool and several handy ones!
Dmytro Suslov
@realvladgolub Indeed, because sometimes mono-instruments cannot be replaced by anything
Ryan T - Dezbor.com
If you actually notice on all set-of-tools you mentioned, they're actually starts from a mono-product
Dmytro Suslov
@distartin Great idea! This testifies to the absolute naturalness of this path
Inid Leksina
Question, somewhat unrelated. Would you personally use both Hubspot and Google Analytics or just one?
Dmytro Suslov
@inid_leksina These are very different products) It's like asking "Do you use a car or a washing machine?" )
Madeleine Nichols
The more tools you have, the more info can get siloed, but that has to be balanced against the features or specialist focus offered by a particular product for the work you are doing. There's also tech stack cost if you have several tools on paid plans. GSuite and Microsoft have a lot of inbuilt tools which I've seen more and more teams start using to save on further subscription costs So there's a time and a place for both, I am noticing a growing number of products that unite all your different tools together to make it easier to find what you're looking for and save time searching in multiple tools. How has this influenced your direction with Uspacy?
Dmytro Suslov
@madeleine_nichols Uspacy is an online service, a single workspace for organizing daily processes of small and medium-sized companies: modern communication in a team, collaboration, tasks and CRM.
André J
Better to mix and match to your exact need and build some tooling your self as well. One size fits all platforms for everything will fit some of your needs and usually be bloated with stuff you don't need. Also harder to escape later. When you mix and match and optimise for that, you can replace services with better alternatives as your need change or better products come along. Stay nimble!
Kwaku Amprako
It really depends on what you need and what you're looking for. Sometimes a single product can be enough if it meets all your requirements and does everything you need it to do. However, other times it might be better to have a set of tools that you can use together to get the job done. The choice between the two depends on things like what you need the tools for, how much you can afford to spend, and how easy the tools are to use. In the end, it's important to think about what you need the most and choose the option that's the best fit for you.
Richard Gao
I'd say sets of tools provide you with more diversity. But mono-products give a better vision for you to expand For example, at evoke-app.com, we're starting with just an image generation API for developers building AI apps, but we're going to branch into other AI models and potentially a user use case as well rather than businesses
All-in-one, as it saves time and makes things a bit easier to manage!✌️