Microsoft Viva’s pricing page illustrates what is wrong with enterprise software. Three pricing tiers hide fifteen vague features spread across eight apps, forcing leaders to interpret, compare, and align choices across stakeholders. In theory, evaluating every feature means over 32,000 possible combinations before adoption even begins. Instead of simplifying work, this model multiplies complexity and delays value. The future of software must be seamless, adaptive, and decision reducing, not decision multiplying.

---

I spent some time looking at Microsoft’s Viva pricing page (link here), and it struck me as a perfect example of what is wrong with how software from large vendors like Microsoft is built and sold. On the surface, it looks simple: three pricing tiers, each with a list of features. But once you start to unpack what is actually being presented, the hidden cost becomes clear. Every feature is another decision someone inside the business has to make.

There are roughly fifteen distinct features spread across those three pricing tiers. Each one comes wrapped in vague marketing language such as “premium community experiences,” “advanced insights,” and “learning recommendations.” None of these descriptions make it obvious what they do, how they differ from the basic versions, or what they mean in the day to day life of a worker. A leader must interpret them, map them to real business needs, and weigh them against the other features locked into bundles. What looks like three choices is really dozens of decisions, discussions, and compromises.

And this is just one product, Microsoft Viva. For it to be useful, it has to integrate with the rest of Microsoft’s sprawling ecosystem. That means even more decisions about compatibility, rollout, and governance. Then comes the hardest part of all, adoption. A tool is only valuable if workers actually use it. To get there, an organization has to go through the messy process of internal debate: do we need this feature, not that one, how will we use this, who will own that. These discussions consume time, create friction, and often stall out before anything meaningful gets implemented.

Let’s break it down more clearly:

• Number of pricing tiers: 3
• Number of distinct features: about 15
• Number of separate Viva apps bundled: 8
• Decisions required: interpreting 15 features, mapping them to needs, comparing 3 bundles, aligning across multiple stakeholders

When you multiply these factors, the hidden complexity becomes obvious. To make a fully informed decision, a leader would need to:

• Understand and evaluate 15 individual features
• Consider 8 distinct apps and their role in the broader Microsoft ecosystem
• Compare the 3 possible bundles and the tradeoffs between them
• Align perspectives across at least 3 to 5 internal stakeholders (IT, HR, Finance, Operations, Leadership)

Even if you only treat each feature as a yes or no decision, that is 2 to the power of 15, or 32,768 possible combinations of feature choices to evaluate in theory. Add in bundle tradeoffs, stakeholder preferences, and ecosystem integration, and the number of permutations balloons far beyond what any leader or team can reasonably process. The point is not the exact number but the scale of the cognitive load. What looks like three neat pricing boxes is in fact tens of thousands of micro decisions and dozens of concepts to learn before anyone can feel confident they are making the right choice.

The end result is that the very software that is supposed to simplify and empower work ends up adding layers of complexity before it even launches. Leaders and employees alike are pulled into a cycle of evaluating, justifying, and configuring long before any productivity gains are realized.

This is the core problem with the enterprise software model. It multiplies decisions rather than reducing them. Businesses are forced to bend themselves around the product instead of the product bending itself around the business. Until this changes, every new feature page will look less like an opportunity and more like another set of burdens waiting to land on already overworked teams.

This is absolutely not the future of software. The next generation of tools will not ask leaders and workers to interpret vague feature lists or spend hours debating bundles they do not want. They will remove those barriers entirely. Software will be seamless, adaptive, and context aware, surfacing exactly what is needed when it is needed, without requiring committees and tradeoffs to unlock value. True evolution toward autonomy means reducing the number of choices people have to make just to get work done, not multiplying them. Starting at the pricing page. The future belongs to systems that eliminate friction, preserve focus, and allow organizations to move forward without drowning in decisions about the software itself.

…