How to find the money your IT is losing
The IT invoice leaves your account every month, but few companies can say exactly what it pays for. This page explains where the money usually disappears, how to find out, and what to do about it - without technical jargon.
What the problem is
IT in a typical company grows by accretion. A project arrives, a server is added for it. A new employee joins, a licence is bought. Someone leaves, but nobody cancels their account. A three-year contract is signed and after two years nobody remembers it exists.
After five years you are paying for an environment nobody fully understands - and nobody has time to untangle it, because everything somehow works. That is exactly why the money is there to be found. It is not hidden; nobody has simply looked at it for years.
Where the money usually goes
In my experience it is almost always the same handful of places:
- Resources nobody uses. Servers for a project that ended. A test environment everyone forgot about. They keep running and keep billing.
- Oversized capacity. A server bought with headroom uses 8% of its power. You pay for 100%.
- Licences for people who left. Or for tools nobody has opened.
- Duplication. Two solutions doing the same job, because different departments bought them at different times.
- Data nobody deletes. Backups of backups, archives from 2016 sitting on the most expensive storage tier.
- Old contracts. Terms agreed when you were half the size - and priced accordingly.
This is not about anyone making a mistake. It happens naturally in every growing company. The problem is only that nobody reviews it for years - and the costs accumulate.
How I work
Inventory
I establish what you actually have and what you pay for it. Servers, licences, cloud, contracts, storage. This is often the first time a company sees the complete picture in one place.
Analysis
I compare what you pay with what you actually use. This is where unused resources, duplication and things that should have ended long ago come to light.
Priorities
I rank the findings by benefit against risk. What can be switched off immediately, what needs preparation, what to leave alone.
Delivery
I either carry it out or hand your team a plan. Always so that operations keep running - a saving that takes down production is not a saving.
What you get
- Concrete numbers - not an impression, but a list of items and amounts.
- Savings of typically up to 20% of operating costs, with no impact on availability.
- A picture that stays with you - you know what you have and why.
- A basis for decisions you can take to the board.
When this makes sense
- IT costs are rising and nobody can explain why.
- You are about to invest and want to know whether you are already overpaying.
- A vendor runs your environment and you want an independent view.
- After a merger or reorganisation your IT is assembled from several different worlds.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take?
A basic audit usually takes five working days; longer for larger environments. You receive the findings in writing, with concrete items and priorities.
Do I have to switch anything off?
No. An audit is reading, not intervention. You receive recommendations and nothing happens without your approval.
Does this mean redundancies in IT?
This is about infrastructure, licences and contracts, not people. Your IT team usually gets relief, because the environment they maintain becomes simpler.
What if nothing is found?
That has not happened yet, but even that result has value - you get confirmation that the environment is healthy, which is information you do not have today.
Not sure where to start?
Half an hour, no obligation. We go through your situation and I tell you where I see the biggest opportunity - even if it turns out not to involve me.
Book a free consultation →