What is bloatware in a business phone system?

Have you ever purchased a new computer or device and noticed it comes with some antivirus software you’re not interested in or a copy of Candy Crush or another app from the manufacturer?

You don’t know what these apps do and you don’t think you’ll ever use them, but there they are, taking up space. Business phone platforms can also become bloated when vendors continually add features customers never use.

All of that is bloatware, and it’s an unfortunate reality of the technology world that’s difficult to escape from. In this post, we’ll explore what bloatware is, how it affects your business devices and services, how to avoid them and more.

What is bloatware?

Bloatware is unwanted, unrequested or unnecessary software that comes pre-installed on your computer, smartphone or device. Bloatware is a general category, and there are several bloatware types you should look out for:

Trialware: These are free trial versions of apps, usually antivirus or office tools, that allow you limited access to features and require you to pay to unlock the full versions. Typically, your manufacturer signs some kind of marketing deal with the creator of these apps.

Manufacturer apps: These replicate apps that already come default with your operating system. Some famous examples include Dell’s proprietary diagnostic tools, which often mimic standard Windows apps, or Samsung’s email client and web browser on Galaxy phones, which often mimic Android’s stock email and web browser apps.

Carrier apps: Mobile phone carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T often preinstall bloatware on Android phones. These can include carrier utilities like My Verizon or T-Life, preloaded games like Candy Crush or Monopoly Go, proprietary TV streaming or music apps, antivirus software, cloud storage apps and more.

Adware: Perhaps the most insidious of bloatware apps, adware will periodically show annoying pop-up ads or insert ads into activity. One well-known example is Lenovo Superfish, which intercepted web search traffic and inserted its own ads to your search results.

How does this happen? Largely, it’s because manufacturers and carriers have the ability to make changes, additions and customizations to the software when they’re producing and selling a device. They often choose to install bloatware for business reasons, whether it’s a marketing partnership with certain companies or business strategies such as pushing certain features or keeping a customer within their ecosystem rather than other apps or services that may be better or more affordable.

While many of the examples above are exclusive to open operating systems like Windows and Android, Apple users are not exactly free from bloatware. Some would consider pre-installed Apple apps like Stocks and Tips as unwanted bloatware.

Bloatware is very common, and you have probably come across it in some form. For example, Microsoft Teams is found on 73 percent of laptops, according to Which.com in a test of 275 laptops, making it the most common form of bloatware today. Other bloatware you may have heard of includes Spotify (69 percent), McAfee security (67 percent), Xbox (63 percent), and Microsoft Office trials (59 percent).

Bloatware may be prevalent and annoying, but is it actually harmful to businesses? Let’s find out.

Why businesses should care about bloatware

There are many ways that bloatware can affect businesses, the most dangerous of which includes cybersecurity breaches.

In 2015, Lenovo was accused of compromising user security thanks to bloatware it installed on all its Windows computers. The software was called Superfish and offered a “visual search” experience. However, what it actually did was insert advertisements into Google search results without gaining consent from the user.

Unlike Google, who serves ads over an encrypted connection, Superfish created a security hole when serving ads. This meant that any time a Lenovo user was on public Wi-Fi they were vulnerable to attack that would let anyone check their web browsing. Lenovo eventually pulled Superfish from its computers.

This unfortunate example is a good reminder that having bloatware on a business computer could open up your employees, and therefore your business, to attack from malicious actors. Beyond the security risks, bloatware on work devices means your IT team is likely wasting time that could be spent on more valuable support.

APM Digest found that 89 percent of global IT professionals felt like they wasted time each week due to bloatware prevalence. Not only that, but 94 percent said companies would benefit from reducing overall software contracts and 71 percent said simpler software would benefit companies.

The latter statistic speaks to something that goes beyond bloatware: software bloat and feature creep.

The difference between bloatware and software bloat

While bloatware is unwanted software on a device, software bloat is when newer versions of software become slower, take up more memory or storage space, and require faster hardware without delivering better features.

Software bloat is often caused by feature creep, which adds extra tools and options people won’t use, dependencies on third party tools and features, and developers assuming faster hardware will make up for less efficient code and multiple layers of software frameworks.

You have likely noticed software bloat in programs you’ve used often. Microsoft Word is often pointed to as an example of software bloat. Once a streamlined word processor, Word has added advanced features like templates, cloud compatibility, and collaboration that has since made Word utilize more computer resources.

Google Chrome is another app that people point to for its bloat. Specifically, how much RAM it utilizes due to the increasing size of web apps and how each Chrome tab uses its own resource-heavy processes, making the entire app drain your computer of resources.

Microsoft Teams is sometimes considered bloatware that also features heavy software bloat as it is automatically installed on many Windows PCs and uses significant memory due to it being heavily integrated into the operating system, being plugged into other Microsoft apps like Word and PowerPoint and including numerous features like chats, phone calls, video calls, OneDrive integration and more.

Software bloat makes apps slower to use, clunkier and, sometimes, a worse experience as new menus and processes are tacked on due to new features that the company wants to push. If you’ve used Microsoft Word or PowerPoint in the past couple of years, you’ve noticed this with buttons that tell you to “Share to Teams”.

Software bloat can be a threat to your business. According to Emsisoft, software bloat often creates more opportunities for adversaries to exploit due to how many times software is built on top of foundational systems. And because bloated software is often not efficient and built on top of legacy software that’s old, there are likely vulnerabilities that can be taken advantage of. This, of course, can open up your business to hackers and scammers, reducing efficiency and increasing monetary risk.

Much of software bloat happens due to companies prioritizing new features that are exciting and sellable rather than slimming down code and making apps more efficient. Think of it like stacking books. You just keep stacking the books on top of each other, and as the tower of books get taller, they’re not all lined up correctly and the whole thing gets unwieldy. That’s essentially how software bloat happens.

But what can you do to protect yourself?

How to identify bloatware and software bloat

For bloatware, identification starts when you’re looking to purchase a computer, tablet or phone. You can head to stores and try them out, specifically taking a look to see if there are branded apps from the manufacturer there.

Unfortunately, purchasing a bloat-free device is surprisingly difficult these days. Your best option is to manually uninstall any apps you don’t need. With a Windows PC, you can also reinstall a clean version of the operating system with no bloatware, but that is more work.

Identifying software bloat and feature creep is a little more abstract, and that is because you will need to pay attention to how the app works. For example, in a business phone service you’ll want to check out the actual desktop or mobile app. What does the app allow you to do, and how fast does it work?

Does it make it easy to make and receive calls? Does it combine features like video calling and phone calling into a single app or does it separate them out so you’re not saddled with features you’re not going to use. In this case, if you just wanted a phone service and it comes with video calling built in, the latter could slow down your overall experience if developers weren’t careful.

Slimming down the bloat

Whether it’s bloatware or software bloat, learning is often the best way to help your business avoid unnecessary apps and features because it puts you in a different mindset. What features do you need for your business and its employees to be effective, and how can you do the most with the least possible? It’s easy to add tools and features for everything under the sun, but that complexity has a real cost, making your business less resilient.

Whether it’s a device or a business phone system, try your best to stay away from bloat. Businesses should choose software that solves real problems with the least unnecessary complexity, rather than assuming more features automatically mean better software.