A Question That Matters
The question of when to move beyond best-of-breed HR point solutions toward a broader platform approach is central to modern HR tech strategy. This consideration is far from theoretical; many organisations today find themselves at a crossroads, recognising that the decision can fundamentally reshape how they manage both risk and opportunity.

The Best-of-Breed Trade-Off
Best-of-breed strategies make sense in the early stages. They allow HR leaders to solve specific problems quickly, whether that is rostering, recruitment, or performance management. The strongest tool can be deployed where the pain is sharpest. The challenge is what happens over time. Integrations multiply, data silos deepen, and routine questions start to require reconciliation across three or four systems. What begins as agility can harden into fragmentation.

When Fragmentation Creates Risk
Fragmentation is not only inefficient. In regulated environments, it can be risky. Each additional system increases the maintenance load on IT, creates another potential failure point in compliance workflows, and blurs accountability for data quality. In Australia’s award environment, where interpretation rules shift frequently, this creates exposure. If timesheets, rosters, and payroll rules live in separate places, one missed update can cascade into systemic underpayment. Compliance managed by spreadsheets is not sustainable.

The Hidden Costs
The visible costs of fragmentation are only part of the story. Multiple logins erode the employee experience. Managers are forced to work across interfaces just to approve leave or check costs. HR teams spend hours cleansing data while IT manages integrations that were never designed to last. Vendors multiply, each with their own contract cycles, support desks, and upgrade calendars. What looks like flexibility ends up inflating total cost of ownership and slowing the organisation’s ability to respond.

Considering the Other Side
Moving to a platform approach addresses many of these issues, but it introduces new considerations that should not be ignored. Vendor lock-in is one. Once a core platform becomes embedded, the cost of switching can be significant, and the organisation may be tied to the vendor’s pace of innovation. Best-of-breed providers are often quicker to deliver emerging functionality, particularly in areas such as analytics or employee listening, where demand is evolving rapidly. A platform approach reduces integration risk but may also reduce choice.

Organisational Readiness
Technology is only one part of the decision. Replatforming requires process discipline and governance. Without a commitment to standardisation, the platform risks becoming another underutilised system, burdened with customisations that dilute its value. The tipping point also varies by organisation. A large retailer with award complexity will feel the strain of fragmentation far earlier than a professional services firm of two hundred people. Industry context, regulatory environment, and organisational scale all matter.

The Hybrid Middle Ground
For some, the choice is not binary. A pragmatic model is to anchor compliance-critical functions in a core platform while retaining best-of-breed solutions in areas where differentiation matters most, such as learning or talent acquisition. This balances the stability of a single source of truth with the ability to adopt specialist tools where they deliver strategic value.

A Smarter Path Forward
For organisations facing rising compliance risk, growing system sprawl, or an inability to answer simple cost questions, replatforming is no longer optional. The first step is to map the existing systems, identify where failure points are most acute, and quantify their risk or cost. Prioritisation should focus on consolidation that eliminates entire categories of problems. Success is measured in preventative compliance, confident self-service, and reporting that provides foresight rather than reconciliation.

Best-of-breed has served its purpose in driving rapid progress. But when fragmentation becomes the barrier, moving towards an integrated core is often the only way to regain speed and control. The balance is to do so with clear eyes, acknowledging the trade-offs, and designing a technology strategy that fits the organisation’s unique context.