How To Maximize Your Expensive IT Investment

4 Steps To Maximizing Your Technology Investment

Here are four steps you can take to help make sure you’re maximizing your technology spend:

1. Make an inventory of all of the technology (both on-premise and in the cloud) being used/paid for throughout the entire organization.

• Compile a list of software installed on servers and desktops/laptops; also cloud-based software
• Check "Accounts Payable" records to see what technology is being paid for; ensure the amounts are valid and correct
• Review the operating expense (OpEx) budget to see what technology expenses and subscriptions are planned for

2. Now that you have a good inventory, reconcile across departments.

• Eliminate duplicate software – for example, if two departments are using different learning management systems (LMS), could they both be using the same LMS?
• Eliminate unused software – if the business stopped using the software (and started using something else), then return the license. This will eliminate the cloud-based subscription cost, or the ~20% maintenance fee for on-premise software
• Reconcile licenses (e.g., Microsoft 365, Adobe) with a list of active employees; no licenses for terminated employees, and verify for employees who transferred and whose access has changed
• Combine individual licenses for tiered/volume pricing – departments may have purchased individual licenses, but the organization will normally get better tiered/volume pricing if the licenses are consolidated together

3. Next, make sure the organization is using the software.

• Fully utilize software – for example, don’t just use your customer relationship management (CRM) as a very expensive Rolodex
• If you own commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software and want additional functionality, talk with the vendor about options:
  • If it benefits other clients and gets added to the base software, there should be no additional cost, but need to determine the timeline of when this could be completed
  • If it gets added as custom code, the timeline should be quicker, but there will normally be a maintenance cost of ~20%
  • Make sure there is updated user/system documentation (especially if custom code)
• Keep the software current with upgrades and patches
• Ensure there are various forms of training for employees so they know how to use software; some ideas are in my "Beyond The User Manual" article

4. For future technology purchases (especially if departments have the authority to purchase their own software)...

• Review the capital expense (CapEx) budget to see what major technology expenditures/projects are planned for
• Have a central request process for software over a certain dollar amount to be vetted by a steering committee to ensure it meets the organization’s strategy/plan
• Involve IT – infrastructure requirements, configuration settings, etc.
• Keep information security, internal audit, risk/compliance, and legal in the loop; it’s better to have their input upfront rather than afterward when an incident occurs; it’s cheaper to add internal controls during the planning stage rather than after implementation.
• Once implemented, be sure to add the new software to the inventory list.

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