Imagining the worst-case scenario doesn’t make you a prophet of doom. It makes you the person who can spot the risks organizations can’t afford to ignore.
These risks often start small, but they grow across your tech stack like weeds in an untended garden.
It’s the temporary workaround to a technical issue that becomes permanent — and creates extra work later on.
It’s also the tool sprawl that goes unchecked for months or even years. Suddenly, developers are drowning in integration headaches.
The more “get by’s” and “make do’s” you allow, the greater the risk you won’t be able to adapt technology to changes in business needs.
That leads to escalated costs, strained resources, and a potential opportunity for competitors to get ahead.
Take this opportunity to see those ‘we’ll fix it later’ moments for the risks they really represent, and act accordingly:
1. The AI add-ons that slowly create complexity
Senior leadership teams are eager to reap AI’s benefits, but there are dangers in deploying the technology in piecemeal or ad-hoc fashion.
Over time, the need to connect AI tools to other parts of your tech stack can create a lot of extra work for the IT team while increasing the risk of errors and other performance issues.
Make sure you check the extent to which AI is already becoming a core part of your existing platforms. Then, get up to speed on how the latest WordPress dedicated AI plug-ins make adoption faster and smoother.
2. The tech debt that has accumulated over years
Every technology has a “best before” date, but it’s usually up to you to identify it.
You may have platforms and tools that are still technically operational, for example, but they’re getting slow and cumbersome. Employees have to develop workarounds to complete everyday tasks. They lead to a poor digital experience, like slow page loads on your web site.
The cost of tech debt can become extremely expensive if they lead to disappointed customers, employee churn, or a data breach. We have a guide that shows how real-world organizations have tackled this, along with a five-point plan anyone can use.
3. The maintenance overhead that quietly escalates
No one likes to admit buyer’s remorse, especially when you’ve invested in a high-end, all-in-one solution that was supposed to keep you set for years.
Digital experience platforms (DXP) are a perfect example. They’re like a luxury car that has everything, except they risk constantly breaking down unless you keep spending on additional or replacement parts. This includes a ton of patching, fixing broken integrations, additional licensing, and ongoing monitoring.
That’s not the kind of vehicle you’d use to win a race. Use this F1-inspired explainer to help you avoid an increasingly bumpy ride.
We asked, you answered
In our last edition of The Brief, we focused on security and wanted to see where the biggest risks were coming from. It turns out hackers are among the least of everyone’s worries:
42% said internal access and permissions create the greatest security risks. This was followed by:
- Third-party tools: 27%
- External threats: 15%
- Manual processes: 15%
It’s a good reminder that when you’re working in large environments that run many websites, having control over who’s using your CMS is absolutely critical.
For more guidance in this area, check out our practical guide to enterprise multisite architecture.