Beware the Frankenstack: How to Spot (and Stop) a Fragmented HR Tech Stack
If you’ve ever watched a horror movie, you know the feeling: You’re yelling at the screen for the protagonist to run because the monster is coming. To you, the danger is obvious. But in HR tech, the real monster doesn’t burst through the door announcing itself. It creeps in slowly, disguised as progress.
It starts with so much promise. You add one system to streamline recruiting. Another to improve the onboarding experience. A different platform for benefits. Piece by piece, your tech stack grows. One day you realize you’ve stitched together a massive, bloated Frankenstack—a fragmented, disconnected collection of tools that wastes money, frustrates teams, and delivers a haunting employee experience no one wants to be a part of.
Signs You Might Have a Frankenstack
A Frankenstack doesn’t leap out and terrify you all at once. It lurks in the shadows, creeping into your business little by little, until one day it’s too big to ignore.
Here are some signs you’ve got a Frankenstack on your hands:
- Your systems don’t talk to each other. Each platform has its own logins, data, and workflows. You might spend hours pulling individual reports manually, while employees and managers are constantly switching between tools to get tasks done.
- Your team is frustrated, and so are employees. When a tool feels clunky and redundant, no one wants to use it. Your HR team might end up creating manual workarounds and employees dread using the tools that are supposed to help them.
- You’re paying for more than you use. Bloated contracts and overlapping functionality drain your budget unnecessarily.
- Workarounds are the norm. Your HR tech stack is creating more problems than solutions. Manual workarounds for systems that don’t talk to each other creates a disastrous employee experience.
- Your tech hasn’t evolved with your business. The challenges you face with recruiting, onboarding, and retention have evolved, but your tech has stayed the same.
If any of these signs sound familiar, the next step is to uncover the hidden costs of your Frankenstack in terms of wasted time, unused licenses, and disengaged employees.
The Scary Costs of a Frankenstack
The frustration you feel around your HR tech stack has a real impact on the bottom line. Here are a few ways a fragmented tech stack can accumulate costs.
Hidden budget killers
Many tools promise efficiency, but overlapping features and unused licenses have you paying double and can negate any potential efficiency gain.
Administrative burden
Manual reporting, data entry, and other administrative tasks can take hours and pull HR teams away from strategy and relationship building.
Customization costs
The more complex your Frankenstack, the more likely you’ll need to hire expensive consultants to make any changes on the backend.
Disengagement and turnover
You’re paying for tech to make critical processes like onboarding and performance management run more smoothly. But if employees and managers find it confusing or inconsistent, user adoption nosedives and they might start looking for a new role.
Burnt out teams
HR teams, already under pressure to do more with less, end up playing tech support for failing tools and managers get bogged down in clunky processes.
From Frankenstack to Growth Engine
The good news is Rival has worked with HR teams just like yours with Frankenstacks lurking in their business. We come to the rescue with a flexible, intelligent solution that connects your entire HR ecosystem—people, processes, and platforms—into a powerful hub.
Here’s how it works:
Intelligent automation and AI-powered workflows
Without smart automation, HR teams are buried in repetitive tasks. Rival acts as the connective tissue, orchestrating workflows and seamlessly integrating your tech stack, with over 2,000 out-of-the-box connections. When you’re no longer wasting time manually moving data between tools you can focus on real strategy.
Data visualization that drives action
Take that raw data from disjointed systems and unify it into clear, actionable insights that fuel strategy. And with dashboards and reports that speak HR’s language, you don’t need a data analyst to make smarter decisions.
A cohesive, branded employee experience
Rather than a patchwork of distinct processes, Rival weaves it all together into a seamless, consistent employee journey that reflects your brand and instills trust.
Flexibility for the future
Keep pace with evolving business needs with customizable workflows at scale. Rival is built for adaptability, helping you maximize the systems you already trust while filling gaps they can’t cover.
Each of these pillars helps turn that Frankenstack into an orchestrated hub that drives efficiency and delivers on that seamless experience you’ve always envisioned for your workforce.
Don’t Let Your Frankenstack Haunt You Another Year
There shouldn’t be anything spooky about your HR tech stack. If your Frankenstack is draining your budget and frustrating your team, it’s time to take control. And that doesn’t mean ripping out everything you’ve built.
Rival can help make your HR tech stack work smarter by:
- Connecting your existing systems into an orchestrated hub
- Automating workflows and eliminating manual workarounds
- Unlocking insights that help drive decision-making
- Delivering seamless employee experiences that improve engagement and retention
Take the first step now and book your demo to see how Rival can transform your Frankenstack into a growth engine.
