.jpg)
.jpg)
You probably know of at least one piece of software in your tech stack that hasn’t been used for a while. Actually, most businesses have more than one software subscription or licence, costing money and going unused. Then what about the cost and inefficiency of outdated legacy tech infrastructure? Or the missed opportunity of trimming and transforming a tech stack to reinvest in and adopt AI?
Around 50% of software and licensed SaaS applications go unused, costing businesses an estimated $44 million each month. Another report puts half of all enterprises wasting 10% of IT budgets on unused licences, and 19% of these companies lose up to 20% of IT budgets on unused cloud resources.
A tech stack spring clean can reduce the expenditure of any company of any size immediately and offers a substantial opportunity to review workflows and create new efficiencies.
In this article, we’ll focus predominantly on the software side of a technology stack. It’s much quicker to review and cancel unused licences and subscriptions because “subscription creep” is a real issue for businesses as well as consumers. For companies with legacy physical infrastructure, moving to the cloud also has significant and similar benefits, and there are commonalities to be found in the approach.
The rapid growth and adoption of SaaS and cloud solutions have created disparities, data siloes, teams with tools they can’t use, and unnecessary costs.
First, the benefits of a tech stack spring clean. Then, we’ll cover five steps to get started.
Cancelling unused subscriptions and licences can immediately reduce costs and free IT resources and budget for other projects, perhaps even better software. The average company can use up to 250 SaaS applications, with enterprises using over 100 more. Firms and employees are struggling to use these disconnected tools productively.
As many as 64% of employees report that work tools don’t integrate with other business processes and departments, and 59% say the tools they use don’t align with their team's preferred work style. The fast pace of software innovation can mean that tools adopted a few short years ago aren’t efficient, and anything older will likely not seamlessly integrate with newer tools. Redundant and legacy technologies also carry substantial cyber risk.
Older subscription and software pricing often isn’t competitive against the platforms available today, and unless you have reviewed your tech stack and compared alternatives recently, you could be paying way over the odds for far less functionality. Competition and innovation have created a broad choice of platforms, some of which can solely cover most business processes and at much lower prices.
Adopters of AI can see an average sales uplift of 10% to 20%, as well as AI’s promised time savings and workflow efficiencies. Businesses are clamouring to adopt AI, and clearing out an outdated technology stack can free funds to reinvest in AI as well as identify processes where it could have an immediate impact.
An effective technology refresh delivers tangible benefits, but some are less quantifiable. It can be incredibly motivating for teams and leaders to “wipe the slate clean” of old platforms and processes and bring in new ones that remove technology frustrations in the workplace. New systems can automate mundane tasks, removing some of the daily grind and leaving more time for innovation, problem-solving, and growth-focused functions like sales.
If your business isn’t ready for an in-depth digital transformation, or you feel you have already achieved transformation but need a quick update, then simply reviewing subscriptions and licences, comparing prices, and culling a few tools might be enough.
To go deeper with a tech spring clean and investigate replacing legacy and physical systems, consider these 14 ways from the Forbes Technology Council.
Start by evaluating your tech stack. Begin where the responsibility for IT lies, but extend an evaluation to talking to teams and departments to really learn what’s being used, what’s not working, and what’s missing.
Next, crunch the numbers, check for unused subscriptions and licences, see if you are in the right pricing tier for each subscription, and see if the software or service is still competitively priced against peers and alternatives.
If you feel like you’ve opened a can of worms, try a systems thinking approach to overcome complexity.
If you are looking for immediate results, it might not be the time for a full digital review. When you understand your tech stack a little better, add some controls by defining objectives for your tech spring clean and an appropriate time and monetary budget. Choose this moment to decide if making savings on annual expenditure is the goal or if you want to reinvest in new technology.
Even if you don’t plan to deploy new technologies right away, this is an excellent time to consider new platforms, what advantages and efficiencies they could bring, and how much they cost. Software, SaaS, and AI are all evolving rapidly, and costs and functionalities change by the week.
If you’ve chosen to go “in for a penny, in for a pound,” you’ll need to consider a deeper digital transformation strategy, starting with a data strategy as a foundation.
Either way, the pace of technological change and how quickly businesses evolve, grow, hire, and fire necessitates scheduling a regular tech-stack review to prevent unnecessary future costs.
With thousands of technology solutions available, a quick spring clean can become daunting as you try to choose and connect disparate systems that drive actual growth. Contracting an expert or choosing one technology partner for your entire organisation can seem costly, but it could be the solution to putting efficiency back into all your day-to-day workflows.
.png)
.png)
.png)
