Consolidation Decision Matrix: Excel Template to Decide Which Tools to Keep, Merge or Kill

Are too many tools costing your business time, money and sanity? Use this decision matrix to decide which to keep, merge or kill — with an Excel template and migration checklist tailored for UK small businesses.

If you’re juggling separate systems for finance, invoicing, payroll and budgets, you’re not alone. In 2026 UK SMEs face rising subscription fees, growing integration complexity and new data-governance expectations. The solution? A practical, repeatable decision matrix that scores each tool on strategic fit, usage, cost and integration complexity, produces automated recommendations, and outputs a pragmatic migration plan.

The 2026 context: why consolidation matters now

Late 2025 and early 2026 saw two major shifts that make consolidation urgent for small businesses:

• AI and integration maturity: Vendors added AI copilots and bundled features, but only a few platforms offer robust, API-first integrations. That widens the gap between feature promise and real operational value.
• Hidden total cost: Subscription inflation and the cost of maintaining connectors, SSO and data reconciliation mean many tools now cost 20–40% more than their headline price when you include internal labour.

MarTech and other industry voices flagged a similar trend in January 2026: marketing stacks are increasingly cluttered and underused, creating what’s often called “technology debt.” The same principle applies across operations — and you need a structured way to make decisions that stick.

“Marketing technology debt is the accumulated cost of complexity, integration failures, and team frustration.” — MarTech, Jan 2026

What this article gives you

• A practical decision matrix model for scoring and ranking your tools
• Excel implementation tips: formulas, conditional formatting, Power Query and a simple macro to generate a migration checklist
• An automated recommendation logic (Keep / Merge / Kill) you can tune
• A downloadable UK-focused template bundle for finance, invoicing, payroll and budgeting teams (CTA at the end)

How the Consolidation Decision Matrix works — core metrics

The matrix evaluates each tool across four pillars. Each pillar is scored 1–5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent). You can apply weights to reflect your business priorities.

1. Strategic fit (weight default: 35%)

Does this tool align with your business objectives? Consider whether it supports compliance (e.g., UK payroll rules), reporting needs, and future strategy. High strategic fit favours keeping a tool or merging its capabilities into a platform that scales.

2. Usage & adoption (weight default: 25%)

How many active users? Frequency of use? High dormant-user counts or restricted usage by one team are red flags. Also consider training overhead and support tickets per month.

3. Cost & total cost of ownership (weight default: 20%)

Include direct subscription fees plus hidden costs: integration maintenance, user time, support and multiplier effects across finance and operations. For UK firms, also include VAT treatment and currency fluctuation if paying in foreign currencies.

4. Integration complexity & risk (weight default: 20%)

Rate the difficulty of connecting to your core systems (accounting, payroll, CRM), the existence of an API or connector, and whether data mapping is straightforward. Account for data security and GDPR-compliance risk in the UK.

Score calculation and automated recommendation logic

In Excel, create a table with these columns: Tool Name, Owner, Strategic Fit (1–5), Usage (1–5), Cost (1–5), Integration Complexity (1–5), Weight Sum (calculated), Final Score (0–100), Recommendation.

Step-by-step scoring formula

1. Normalize pillar scores to a 0–100 scale: ScorePct = (Score / 5) * 100
2. Apply weights (example defaults): Strategic 35%, Usage 25%, Cost 20%, Integration 20%
3. Final Score = SUM(ScorePct * Weight)

Then use a simple recommendation formula to produce an automated decision. Example thresholds (customise to your business):

• Final Score ≥ 80: Keep
• Final Score 60–79: Merge (consider consolidating features or migrating to a platform)
• Final Score < 60: Kill (terminate subscription and archive data)

In Excel the Recommendation column can use an IF formula like:

=IF(FinalScore>=80,"Keep",IF(FinalScore>=60,"Merge","Kill"))

Practical example: three tools scored

Imagine a small business with these tools:

• Tool A — Invoicing app (popular across teams, quick API, modest cost)
• Tool B — Niche budgeting tool (low usage, expensive support)
• Tool C — Payroll add-on from an external provider (strategic for compliance but complex integration)

After scoring and weighting, Tool A scores 85 ("Keep"), Tool B scores 45 ("Kill"), Tool C scores 70 ("Merge"). The recommendation is to keep A, decommission B, and investigate merging payroll functionality into a single HR-payroll platform or use a managed connector for C. For complex systems, tie the migration to your edge auditability and decision planes so cutovers are traceable and auditable.

Excel implementation tips (powerful, but simple)

1. Structure your workbook

• Sheet: Tools (raw data and scores)
• Sheet: Calculations (weight definitions and intermediate formulas)
• Sheet: Recommendations (filtered view with conditional formatting)
• Sheet: Migration Plan (auto-populated tasks for Merge/Kill)
• Sheet: Historical Cost (import invoices via Power Query)

2. Use named ranges and a configuration table

Place weights and thresholds in a single configuration table. Use named ranges so non-technical users can tweak weights without touching formulas.

3. Pull real costs with Power Query

Connect Power Query to exported invoices or your accounting system to calculate the true cost over the last 12 months. This reduces estimation bias and surfaces hidden spend like transaction fees.

4. Automate recommendations with formulas and conditional formatting

Apply coloured bands: green for Keep, amber for Merge, red for Kill. Use conditional formatting rules keyed to the Final Score column to create a dashboard that managers understand at a glance.

5. Generate a migration checklist with a simple macro or dynamic array

Create a button that copies all rows with Recommendation="Kill" or "Merge" to the Migration Plan sheet, and populates template tasks (owner, due date, contract notice period, data export required, backup location, archive format, integrations to remove, communications required). Keep a copy of your standard incident and handover materials (for example, a good incident response template) in the same governance folder so you can respond quickly if a migration uncovers a compromise or outage.

Migration checklist — detailed and actionable

Use this checklist as a template in your Migration Plan sheet. Each task becomes a row assigned to an owner with a due date and status.

1. Contract & procurement
   • Review contract notice period and auto-renewal clauses
   • Estimate termination penalties or refund eligibility
2. Data export
   • Export all user, transactional and configuration data in open formats (CSV, XML)
   • Verify exports against reconciliation reports
3. Integration decommission
   • List all API keys, webhooks and connectors to be disabled
   • Plan for re-routing data flows to the new system
4. Compliance & retention
   • Map exported data to GDPR retention rules; consult legal for payroll records
   • Archive to approved storage and record the retention schedule
5. People & training
   • Communicate timeline to affected teams
   • Schedule training for new or merged systems
6. Testing & cutover
   • Run parallel testing for at least one full business cycle (payrun, month-end)
   • Prepare a rollback plan and sign-off criteria
7. Post-migration review
   • Measure time saved, error reduction and cost impact at 30 and 90 days
   • Adjust governance and add to a quarterly review process

Quantifying hidden costs: a small-model approach

Beyond subscription fees, include three buckets:

• Operational labour: hours spent reconciling, manual exports, and support (hourly cost × hours/month)
• Integration maintenance: time and platform fees for iPaaS connectors or developer hours
• Risk & compliance overhead: audit time, fines risk reduction value, legal review

In the template we provide a simple calculator that multiplies user hours by an average billable rate to produce a monthly operational cost, then adds recorded subscription fees to arrive at the total cost of ownership (TCO).

Governance: assign owners and review cadence

Consolidation fails when decisions are one-off. Adopt a governance rhythm:

• Tool owner (named) responsible for score updates every quarter
• Quarterly technology review meeting to assess Merge/Keep/Kill outcomes — treat it like your site reliability review, not a one-off spreadsheet exercise
• Clear procurement process for any new tool (must pass decision matrix before purchase)

Advanced strategies for complex migrations

For critical systems like payroll and accounting, use a phased and risk-aware approach:

• Pilot groups: move a small team first to validate mappings and payroll outputs
• Shadow runs: run both systems in parallel for a pay period to compare results
• Data reconciliation scripts: use Power Query or a small Python script to compare balances and highlight anomalies

Real-world mini case study (UK SME, 42 employees)

Background: A UK services SME used 12 SaaS tools: separate invoicing, payroll, HR, budgets and three reporting tools. Annual subscription costs were £45k, but internal reconciliation and integration bugs cost an extra estimated £18k/year.

Action: Using our decision matrix, the operations lead scored every tool. Key outcomes:

• Decommissioned 4 underused products (saved £12k/year plus ~£6k in labour)
• Merged reporting into the accounting product via a single connector (one-off £2k integration cost)
• Retained payroll provider but used an iPaaS connector to reduce manual data entry (reduced errors and saved 10 hours/month)

Result: First-year net saving estimated at £18k, with a 60% reduction in monthly reconciliation tasks. Most importantly, fewer audit issues and a clearer month-end close process.

2026 trends to factor into your consolidation decisions

• Bundled AI features: Vendors now promise AI-enhanced reconciliation or autopilot invoicing. Evaluate whether these features reduce manual effort meaningfully — and validate them before you bet your processes on them; see best practices for AI augmentation.
• API-first vendors win: Platforms built with robust APIs and webhook support lower integration complexity and should score higher on our matrix.
• Regulatory scrutiny and data governance: Expect more enquiries into payroll and financial reporting data. Prioritise tools with clear data export and retention policies.
• iPaaS and pre-built connectors: Pre-made connectors from leading integration platforms dramatically reduce integration cost and migration risk — factor connector fees into your TCO.

How to use our downloadable Excel template bundle (UK-focused)

The bundle includes:

• Decision Matrix workbook with example data, named ranges and configuration table
• Power Query scripts to import subscription invoices and payroll exports
• Migration Plan sheet pre-populated with task templates and dependencies
• Short video walkthrough (10 minutes) and a one-page governance checklist

Open the Tools sheet, paste your tool list, adjust weights in the configuration table and refresh queries. The Recommendations table updates automatically and the Migration Plan button populates tasks for all Merge/Kill items.

Checklist: Quick actions you can do this week

• Run an export of all active SaaS subscriptions and plug into the template’s cost sheet
• Score your top 8 tools using the four pillars in the template
• Identify 1–2 clear Kill candidates and schedule contract end dates
• Run a pilot migration for a Merge candidate with one team for a single month

Final thoughts — make consolidation routine, not reactive

Consolidation is not a one-off clerical exercise. It’s a governance discipline that reduces operational drag and frees capacity for growth. Use the decision matrix to make objective, repeatable choices and let the migration checklist turn decisions into actions with measured outcomes.

We built the Excel template bundle specifically for UK small businesses handling finance, invoicing, payroll and budgets. It reflects 2026 realities — AI features, API-first products, and the need for robust data governance.

Call to action

Download the Consolidation Decision Matrix Excel template bundle now to score your tools, generate automated Keep/Merge/Kill recommendations and produce a ready-to-run migration checklist tailored for UK SMEs. Get started today — reduce cost, cut complexity and protect compliance.

Download the template bundle (UK): [Download link — Excel Template Bundle for Consolidation Decision Matrix]

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