Overpromising Enterprise Tools

I’ll be launching a small project soon to remove the last dependency on a certain unnamed enterprise tool my company purchased years ago for a few hundred thousand dollars. It has the cost benefit analysis every business person could love. For a week or two of one developers time we can save 50k a year on the support contract. It’s rare when things are that clear cut. And it reinforces a lesson I’ve learned over and over never to promise the business some magic from an expensive tool.