Introduction

SaaS solutions should not require certification for users to become adept at using them. After all, a hammer doesn’t come with a manual, video tutorials, or week long immersion days. Yet it’s found in every tool belt at a work site, with a myriad uses. This is the penultimate user experience we should all aspire to deliver in the world of enterprise information technology.

Many solutions significantly increase the cognitive load on their users, contributing to mental fatigue and burnout. In this rapidly changing digital landscape, most of us are already on the brink of information overload. We’ve gone from simple to-do apps to agile project management, on-premise to cloud, hardware networking to software-defined networking, basic budgeting to FinOps, and so on. All these shifts occur continuously and everyone is expected to keep pace. Complex software wastes valuable time and mental energy that is better spent on an organization's core mission. Striving to build simplicity into solutions allows companies to operate more efficiently and channel their efforts into innovative and business-growth opportunities. 

In this article, we'll examine why over-engineered solutions often create more problems than they solve, exploring three critical anti-patterns that threaten businesses: the trap of building expertise in non-transferable skills and tools, the insidious complexity barrier that stifles innovation, and the silent threat of skill atrophy that undermines even the strongest of teams. Using real-life examples, we'll demonstrate how Echelon One tackles these challenges head-on, effectively transforming pitfalls into opportunities for growth and efficiency for the modern business.

Non-Transferable Skills

A huge challenge in enterprise environments today is non-transferable skills. This is knowledge gained under a specific context that cannot be readily applied elsewhere. Some SaaS providers deliver solutions with steep learning curves that are riddled with niche mechanics and terminologies unique to their platforms.

An industry analysis in 2023 suggested that 60% of acquired technical certifications were for vendor software. This leaves employees ill-equipped to transition those skills to other roles or platforms.

Let’s consider Airplane.dev in order to illustrate this point. Many businesses depended on this startup for critical workflows and required their engineers to invest in training. When Airplane.dev was unexpectedly sold in early 2024, customers were given minimal time to migrate to another solution. There were no drop-in replacements, and most of the internal app constructs were not transferable. Investments in skills related to Airplane’s workflow dropped to zero overnight – leading to hasty and stressful rewrites.

Here at Echelon One, we’re dedicated to cultivating evergreen skills. Evergreen skills are competencies that remain relevant over time. Our platform is built around base python rather than proprietary languages or frameworks. As a result:

• No specialized front-end code, full-stack development, or exotic query languages  
• Any business logic can be migrated with minimal effort to another system
• Engineers hone core python abilities, benefiting both their career growth and the business

The Complexity Barrier

Too many solutions are over-engineered, with a complex user experience that prevents realizing their supposed benefits. Opinionated integrations, limited customization options, and missing features force businesses to pursue workarounds and alternative tools.

Studies show that 51% of SaaS applications end up underutilized or completely unused, often because they are too cumbersome to integrate seamlessly into existing workflows.

At Echelon One, we keep things straightforward:

• Our platform can integrate with virtually anything, supporting full customization at lightning speed.  
• We focus on enabling customers by adjusting to their workflows, rather than forcing them to adapt to our software.  

By reducing friction, our approach lowers the cognitive burden and increases adoption and overall ROI.

Skill Atrophy

When companies turn to a growing number of vendors, each with its own rigid approach, internal teams lose direct insight into their own systems. Employees stop solving problems themselves and instead invest time learning how to operate one black-box solution after another.

An internal survey revealed that 45% of enterprise teams reported reduced proficiency with core skills (automating or systems design) when their day-to-day tasks centered on highly abstracted platforms.

This leads to skill atrophy, where teams fail to sharpen the fundamental capabilities that directly benefit their business. 

At Echelon One, there are no black boxes:

• Our marketplace, Astrohub, and every system built by our customers are transparent
• Everything can be reviewed and modified to best suit the need
• Foster critical thinking and deeper understanding of the environment through hands-on interaction with the business logic

Obsolescence

Even cutting-edge solutions become outmoded as technology advances. Teams that spend considerable time learning and adapting to a particular vendor’s static feature set may find themselves in a repeating cycle of skill churn.

Industry watchers estimate that up to 30% of enterprise training budgets are poured into re-learning or re-certifying teams when legacy SaaS platforms fail to keep pace with innovation.

Adaptability is a paramount focus within Echelon One. Our platform can rapidly evolve in-sync with each customer’s roadmap, which ensures you won’t be stuck with an archaic solution when the market or strategy shifts.

Conclusion

Simplicity is an underrated but powerful force for driving SaaS adoption, resilience, and long-term value. By focusing on evergreen skills and steering clear of non-transferable, complex, over-engineered solutions, businesses and their teams achieve the following:

• Avoidance of massive retraining costs
• Reduction of cognitive overload and burnout
• Maintain and accelerate agility to pivot and innovate in the face of industry change

At Echelon One, we’ve made it our mission to empower organizations with uncomplicated, future-proof capabilities. Because much like a hammer, a SaaS tool should be simple, effective, and always up to the task … no certification required.