How many software programs do you use at work?

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I started a new job last year and it has been, to say the least, overwhelming. Apart from learning the actual job itself, I’ve had to learn to use quite a number of software programs. I’ve counted 19 that I use on a daily basis (plus 4 external websites). (The standard programs are Word, Outlook, MS Teams, Excel and Sharepoint. Everything else is specific to my organisation/job.)

This is in stark contrast to my previous job which was just Word, email and Excel, plus a custom database and one program for sickness and annual leave (so 5).

In the job previous to that I only remember using email, Word, Adobe FrameMaker and Adobe Photoshop.

I was wondering how many software programs other people use daily at work…

Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Sharepoint, a database software which I use more than everything else put together, several different ones for controlling equipment, a password manager, a portal for documents, HR software. All used at least weekly. Thankfully use of Word and Excel is gradually dwindling, they still have their uses but we are nowhere near as reliant on them as we used to be, I am so tired of Word in partcular. In my last job I had about 10 softwares and we had to change the passwords on them all every few weeks and they all had different requirements that took ages.

7 and then the usual. Email,word,exell,PowerPoint.
I started with the company 3.5 years ago we use 1 programme we did back then. So there has been a lot of changes.

Not so many, the usuals like Excel, Word, Outlook, then come Photoworks and Clipify for photo and video editing respectively (I'm a content creator)

Tired of Word? What's your job? I work in a head office role and we have various portals we use for different things, but Word and Excel are mainstays.

The usual plus Notepad, Trello, Teams, CMS software. Tons of regular websites I need to login to for different things as well

I have 6 bespoke systems I open up immediately every day, plus email, teams, word, excel, onenote, and a few more bespoke ones that I use less frequently.

I know in my last job I was introduced to 11 new systems in the first week and my poor head was spinning.

Excel
Word
Outlook
Access
Power Point
Freeola Web design
Moneysoft Payroll
Xero bookeeping
FreeAgent book keeping
Kashflow Book Keeping
Quickbooks book keeping
Quickfile book keeping
VT book-keeping
VT accounts production
Iris Tax returns
Senta practice management
Adobe for online document signing
Autoentry document OCR reading and conversion
HMRC Government Gateway portal
Companies House portal

So 20 in total. All used daily.

It's out of control. On a daily basis I use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams (spit), One Note, Visio, a timesheet entry system where all hours are accounted for in 15 minute chunks, a system that enables easy access to remote desktops where I log onto several database servers and application servers, a system that stores passwords, two knowledge bases and then the application where I do my actual core job. Then there's the usual HR and payslip portals, a dreadful employee engagement system that requires us to check in weekly to say how happy we are and a resourcing tool to track what we're assigned to work on.

In my first big job in 1998 it was Lotus Notes, a ticket logging system and a web based escalation system and that was it. So much more efficient.

I can think of six on a daily basis, some less often.

I use so much. I have the standard:
Word
Excel
Outlook
PowerPoint
Sharepoint
Teams
PowerBI

In addition to this we use:
Results database
Clinical summary system
Electronic patient record.
Community clinic record system
Theatres booking system
Blood service system
Porter job list system
Rota manager
Electronic staff record
Clinical risk reporting system
Audit management
Medication database
Occupational health management system
Staff acuity

There are loads more but I can't remember them all.....

I had to use 3 bits of software to create a simple picture required to start a project, another 3 programme to create the starting file. Another 3 programmes to open the data and to get it into a fit state to put into our data processing software.
I could easily use 20 piece of software in a day. Many of which were proprietary software so were completely new when I started the role and also that they could be clunky and either had issues that weren't to be resolved as the company had pulled funding for continued development or were updated so frequently we had to relearn processes every 3-6 months.
I was made redundant in Feb and whilst I miss most of my job, I do not miss the IT/software set up at all!

I use quite a few programs at work—probably around 15 daily. It’s often a mix of standard tools and some bespoke software tailored to our company’s needs, which helps streamline specific tasks. If your workload feels overwhelming because of too many apps, it might be worth considering custom software solutions that combine multiple functions into one. For anyone interested, you can read here limeup.io/blog/casino-software-providers/ about how bespoke software development companies create tailored tools to improve productivity and reduce complexity. It’s surprising how much smoother things can run when the software fits the job perfectly rather than relying on a patchwork of separate programs.