For a long time, Apple’s legendary CEO Steve Jobs resisted apps. These third-party programmes, he feared, could be an easy way to sabotage Apple products.

He finally relented on the issue in 2007, and the world hasn’t been the same since. The phrase ‘there’s an app for that’ has become both a joke and a legitimate piece of advice. Look across the app landscape, and yeah – there’s likely an ‘app for that’.

The accounting profession has experienced the app wave more than most professions. It makes sense: modern accounting works in close collaboration with software, and many suppliers have embraced the route of an add-on ecosystem.

You have the core software, but then you can dip into their proprietary marketplace to mix-and-match whatever functionality you need. It sounds liberating at first – but wander around a trade show like Accountex and you’ll quickly become bamboozled by the array of apps on offer (many fulfilling the same functions).

It’s a crowded marketplace, and while that level of choice might sound attractive initially, there is such a thing as too much choice. We’ve all heard the phrase “information overload”, first coined in the 70s by the great futurist Alvin Toffler, but it’s actually another Toffler-ism that’s more relevant to the currently existing app marketplace: overchoice.

Overchoice describes the cognitive process in which people have a difficult time making a decision when faced with many options. Ordinary consumers – let alone accountants – are bombarded from all sides with apps or technology integrations promising to solve some or other need.

Clearly, though, the data shows apps rarely fulfil their promise: The average app loses 77% of users within just three days. If you’re a smartphone user and an app doesn’t work for you, it’s a pain but ultimately it’s fine.

For an accountant, however, who is paying for an app, the stakes are higher. You’re a business, after all – and clients aren’t going to wait while you fiddle with your app stack and try to get it right. Another firm or practitioner will gladly gobble up your dissatisfied customers.

You need software that works now. No engineering or messing around, an end-to-end, pure cloud suite that works seamlessly out of the metaphorical box. One price, one software and no need for a busy accountant to go on the hunt for additional apps, APIs or integrations.

This not only makes it easier, but it also keeps you compliant. With GDPR, you need to know where and how your client’s data is being stored. If this data is strewn across the cloud, among different suppliers, it’s simply harder to keep tabs.

A practice software like Capium is 100% GDPR compliant and offers the highest standards of data security. By sticking with us as your main supplier, you know client data is safe and secure.

But don’t get us wrong: applications can be useful. But it’s important to maximise usage from one supplier first and foremost before the need for integrations. It’s only fair, after all, that if you pay for Capium, you receive the Capium product.

We are the core supplier of most of your services. You can tick every box needed, and then if you want to look around for a few app or API luxuries, that’s fine. You can go on the hunt knowing that your software foundation is secure. Capium helps delay and control the need for multiple integrations or apps, instead of going gung-ho on APIs.