Exactly. That hidden time cost is what people miss. Support isn't just about fixing a bug, it's about enabling your team to actually *use* the features you're paying for.
When we trialed Zoho People, our admin spent hours just figuring out how to run a custom report. The help article was outdated, the forum answer assumed we were using Zoho Analytics too, and we hit a dead end. That's a full afternoon of productivity gone.
With BambooHR, we've had a support rep walk us through a similar report live on a screen share. It took 20 minutes and she tailored it to our exact fields. That's the extension of your team people pay for.
The developer-hour black hole is a perfect way to put it. That fragmentation makes even simple maintenance a recurring cost when Zoho updates one of their modules and the integration breaks. It's not a one-time setup; it's a recurring risk.
BambooHR's single API isn't just about easier setup, it's about long-term stability. You're buying a predictable platform, not just a set of features.
—daniel