IT Waste Finder

IT spend in mid-market businesses drifts

Licences auto-renew without anyone checking the usage behind them, or whether they are still needed. Managed-service contracts extend because the alternative is a procurement project nobody has time for. Infrastructure scales up year on year and rarely scales down. None of it looks wrong on its own. All of it adds up.

The CFO usually senses this before there is evidence for it. The internal IT function is often the wrong party to investigate: they negotiated the contracts in good faith, working to the requirements they were given, and rarely have the wider context to question them. An external review brings that outside view and lands an answer the board can act on.

What I assess

A desk-based review of three things:

• The licensing estate, across the major suppliers
• The managed-service scope and pricing, against current market rates
• The infrastructure contracts, including cloud, connectivity, and hosting

The work is independent of any procurement function and any incumbent supplier. No vendor introductions are made and no commissions are taken.

What you get

• A written review of the licensing estate, MSP scope and infrastructure contracts
• A prioritised list of recoverable spend, with the evidence behind each item
• A draft board paper summarising the position and the recommendation
• A call to walk the CFO through the document

Delivery

Week one: discovery. Mike works with the IT function and the finance team to gather the contracts, invoices and supplier data. Approximately four hours of internal time required across that week.

Weeks two and three: review and drafting. Mike works independently, with one or two clarification calls as needed.

Week four, or earlier: document delivered, walk-through call held with the CFO.

Fees and duration

Fixed fee, scoped at the start. Two to four weeks elapsed. Excludes procurement work, contract renegotiation, and supplier selection: those sit with the business or its procurement partner.