Four Apps Down to Two: The OpWorks Case Study - Gold Coast Ecommerce
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How we run our own operations · July 2026

Four apps down to two. AU$3,080 back every year.

We replaced ClickUp, the fortnightly spreadsheet shuffle and Accelo with OpWorks, an operations app we built ourselves. Xero stayed for accounting. Software spend dropped 68%. Around 500 timesheet rows used to be exported, parsed and checked by hand every two weeks. Now they never leave the one system.

  • 68%lower software spend
  • 4 → 2apps in the stack
  • ~500hand-checked rows / fortnight, gone

Before

4 apps, 3 manual hand-offs

AU$4,520 / yr

  1. ClickUp

    US$1,584 / yr≈ AU$2,300

    Task & project management; developers log timesheets here

  2. Manual Excel export every 2 weeks · ~500 task rows

  3. Excel + Google Sheets

    No licencepaid in hours

    Fortnightly export re-parsed into a format Accelo can import. Every line checked by hand

  4. Manual Check every record for over- / under-charges, then sync

  5. Accelo

    AU$1,020 / yras billed

    Retainer, usage, hosting & ticket contracts; invoicing

  6. Manual Re-check timesheets again before invoicing

  7. Xero

    AU$100 / mthAU$1,200 / yr

    Accounting: invoices synced across for payment & BAS

Now: we built OpWorks

2 apps, 1 automatic sync

AU$1,440 / yr

  1. OpWorks built in-house

    ≈ AU$20 / mthhosting only

    CRM · quoting · projects · timesheets · usage contracts · invoicing. Tasks are logged in the same app that holds the client contract, so there is nothing to export, parse or re-check

  2. Automatic Invoices created in OpWorks sync straight to Xero

  3. Xero kept

    AU$100 / mthunchanged

    Accounting. Same sync as before, now fed automatically

  • Zero double-handling

    Tasks live where the contracts live. No exports, no parsing, no re-keying.

  • Nothing we don't use

    OpWorks has no features we don’t use. Nothing bloating the workflow, or the bill.

  • Extends in days, not quarters

    When we actually need a feature, an AI coding agent helps us add it quickly.

Live product

One screen, no export button

Developers log hours straight against the client's contract or job. Billable hours and markup are worked out the moment time is entered. At invoice time there is nothing to export and nothing to re-check.

The Time screen in OpWorks. We built it in-house with an AI coding agent, in roughly 10% of the time and cost it would normally take.

In development. Included, not licensed

Subscriptions we'll never start

Each of these would normally be another app on the stack. That's roughly AU$2,000 / yr in subscriptions we build into OpWorks instead of renting.

  • Free CRM, customised to how we work
  • Proposal generator
  • Digital signing
  • Recurring payments
  • Client portal

Where the money goes now

Annual software spend, ex-GST

  • ClickUp

    Replaced by OpWorks projects & timesheets

    + AU$2,300

  • Accelo

    Replaced by OpWorks contracts & invoicing

    + AU$1,020

  • Excel + Sheets shuffle

    ~500 rows exported, parsed and hand-checked each fortnight. Gone

    hours back

  • OpWorks hosting

    The only new cost

    − AU$240

  • Xero

    Kept in both stacks. AU$1,200 / yr, unchanged

    AU$0

Net saving

AU$3,080 / yr

AU$4,520 → AU$1,440 per year · software spend down 68%

Once the CRM, proposal generator with digital signing and client portal go live (built in, not licensed), we'll be roughly

AU$5,080 / yr ahead

of the old stack.

Your stack, next

Add up what you rent. Some of it you could own.

We did this to our own business first. If you're paying for a stack of tools that each do half the job, we'll add up what you spend and show you the maths on replacing them with one app you own.

Get your stack costed About the service

ClickUp billed at US$1,584 / yr, shown as ≈ AU$2,300 at USD/AUD 0.69. Adjust for the rate on the day. Accelo as billed. Figures are the amounts billed to Gold Coast Ecommerce on our own plans and seat counts, ex-GST, per year, as at 05/07/2026; third-party pricing changes and varies by plan, seats and currency, so check current pricing before relying on it. Product names are the property of their respective owners and appear here only to identify the tools discussed.