6 min read
Step 1: build a full inventory
List every line, circuit, mobile connection, licence and maintenance contract, with its monthly cost, contract end date and an internal owner. Most businesses have never had this on one page, and the act of building it exposes the obvious waste.
Step 2: cancel what nobody uses
- Analogue lines for fax machines, alarms or lifts that were replaced years ago
- Mobile connections belonging to leavers
- Broadband at a site you no longer occupy
- Duplicate software licences bundled by two different suppliers
- Maintenance on hardware that has been decommissioned
Step 3: match tariffs to actual usage
Compare twelve months of bills against your allowances. Consistent out-of-bundle charges mean the tariff is wrong; consistently unused allowance means you're paying for headroom you'll never use. Pooling mobile data and consolidating suppliers usually improves both price and administration.
Step 4: fix the renewal process
The single biggest cause of overspend is auto-renewal. Put every contract end date in a calendar with a reminder 90 days before, and start the market review then — not the week the notice period expires.
Where the savings usually come from
- Removing redundant services: often 5–15% of spend
- Right-sizing tariffs and pooling: often 10–25%
- Replacing legacy ISDN with SIP or hosted voice: frequently the largest single saving
- Consolidating suppliers to remove duplicated support and admin charges
Key takeaways
- Start with an inventory — you can't cut what you can't see
- Redundant services and mismatched tariffs are the two biggest wins
- Diary every renewal 90 days ahead to avoid auto-renewal pricing