When it comes to software, tour operators face an overwhelming amount of choice. Today, the challenge isn’t whether the right tool exists — it’s determining which one is the right fit for your business. And with so many choices, it’s easy to feel paralysed. This is known as the paradox of choice: when faced with too many options, we often struggle to make a decision at all.
As the co-founder of a software company, I spend a lot of time thinking about the role of our software within a tour operator’s business and how it fits within their operations. At the same time, as a business owner myself, I’m constantly thinking about what software will help my own company run more effectively.
Through these two perspectives—both as a tech founder and a tech user—I’ve developed four key principles that shape how I approach software selection. In this blog post, I’ll share these principles to help guide your own decision-making when it comes to choosing software. By sharing my perspectives, I hope to provide you with a framework for making more confident software decisions.
The four key principles that guide my decision-making are:
- Know the job you’re hiring software to do
- Think in terms of a tech stack
- Evaluate the company, not just the product
- Tech complexity should mirror business complexity
Principle 1: Know the job you’re hiring software to do
Just like you hire a person for a specific job in your business, choosing software starts with understanding the job it needs to fulfil. Instead of asking, “What software do I need?” start with, “What job am I hiring this software to do?”
This concept comes from the Jobs to Be Done framework, a methodology originally developed in product development to help companies understand customer needs, but applies just as well to choosing software for your business. The benefit of this approach is that it shifts your focus from features to outcomes, making it easier to assess different software solutions.
For example, saying “I need a CRM” doesn’t provide much clarity—there are thousands of CRMs out there, each with a long list of features to compare. But if you define the job as “I need a simple and intuitive way to track my sales pipeline and monitor leads”, then you can choose the CRM that does that job best, rather than getting caught up comparing feature lists filled with things you may never use. It might even turn out you just need a simple tracking board, which tools like Trello offer.
By focusing on the job rather than a long list of features, you can prioritise your actual needs and avoid getting lost in endless feature comparisons (or analysis paralysis as I like to call it). This approach makes evaluating software simpler, giving you a clear sense of what you need and helping you quickly determine if a tool is the right fit.
Principle 2: Think in terms of a tech stack
A tech stack is the combination of software you use to run your business. It’s called a stack because software tools should work together, not in isolation. Think of a stack as a neatly arranged structure—where each piece has its place and contributes to the whole. Without this structure, you’re left with a scattered pile of disconnected tools that don’t work together effectively.
Thinking in terms of a tech stack is a powerful visual metaphor. Instead of viewing software as standalone tools, you start seeing them as part of a larger system, where each tool plays a role in keeping your business running. When adding new software, the key question becomes: Does this strengthen or weaken my overall tech stack?
We can take this concept further by recognising that a tech stack has different layers, a front, middle and back layer each supporting different areas in your business. For tour operators, a tech stack typically consists of three key layers:
- Front Layer (Sales & Bookings): The part your customers and sellers interact with, covering areas like handling bookings and payments, and managing product listings across different sales channels.
- Middle Layer (Operations): The operational layer that keeps your tours running, covering areas like managing supplier reservations, generating guide and guest documents, knowledge bases, and tracking trip progress.
- Back Layer (Admin & Internal Systems): The administrative layer that keeps your business running, covering areas like accounting, file storage, legal, and databases..
Principle 3: Evaluate the company, not just the product
When choosing software, you’re not just buying a product—you’re buying into the company behind it, including their vision, strategy, and business model. A company’s direction influences how their software will evolve, what features they prioritise, and whether they’ll continue to support businesses like yours in the long run. Taking the time to understand a company’s vision and strategy helps you assess not only if their product fits your needs today, but also whether their business model and direction align with your own.
Principle 4: Tech complexity should mirror business complexity
How do you know if you have too much software or too little? The guiding principle is simple: your tech stack should reflect the complexity of your business. If you’re just starting out, you don’t need many tools. But if you’re operating across multiple countries, offering dozens of products, and managing several departments, your tech stack should naturally grow to support that complexity. It’s about “right sizing” your tech stack.
Conclusion
By applying these four principles, you can take a more strategic approach to software selection, making better software decisions with greater confidence. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by endless options, you’ll be able to:
- Know the job you’re hiring software to do – Focus on solving real problems rather than getting caught up in comparing feature lists.
- Think in terms of a tech stack – View your software as a system of interconnected tools, not as standalone pieces.
- Evaluate the company, not just the product – Look beyond the software itself to assess the company’s vision, strategy, and long-term alignment with your business.
- Tech complexity should mirror business complexity – Ensure your tech stack evolves with your business.
Understanding these principles is just the first step. The next step is putting them into action—evaluating your current tech stack, identifying gaps, and selecting tools that truly support your operations. In the next article, I’ll walk you through a practical, step-by-step approach to assessing and refining your tech stack. You’ll learn how to conduct a tech stack audit, identify gaps within your stack, and prioritise which gaps to address.
