Maurizio Stanca

Freelance Procurement Consultant

Battling the Tech Vendors: Optimizing License Spend and Avoiding Audit Risk

Why is there so much wasted software in business?

Over the years, software has continued to improve. But there are still many companies that use older, legacy software. They get stuck in certain working ways and can be resistant to change. This means that when they do get new software, it is often wasted as employees still prefer working in the old software.

Another reason for wasted software is when departments fail to collaborate with each other. It could be that one department leads the search for a new software, but the software is then used across multiple departments. When this happens, sometimes the software does not support the needs of the other departments and does not get used correctly. To prevent this from happening, procurement teams need to work with stakeholders from all departments to establish their needs before creating a new Request for Proposal (RFP) for software.

Procurement teams need to work with stakeholders from all departments to establish their needs before creating a new RFP for software.

How can businesses manage software costs better?

To manage software costs better, businesses need to have a centralized view of the software being used. Now that most software is hosted on the cloud, it is easier than ever to extract the data needed to assess the value of the software. But the real challenge is making sense of the data itself. On its own, the data is meaningless. It needs to be pulled into a central piece of software that shows the business which software is currently active in their business and how much they are paying for it. When businesses have this insight, it becomes much easier for them to negotiate with vendors and only pay for what they need, creating a realistic budget in the process.

To manage software costs better, businesses need to have a centralized view of the software being used.

Should all businesses move to the cloud?

Using the cloud makes sense for a lot of businesses. It offers scalability and flexibility without the need to pay for on-premise maintenance. But there are a few things that businesses need to consider before moving to the cloud. The main one is cyber security. Businesses that use the cloud are vulnerable if cyber attacks happen anywhere across their supply chain. Because of this, they need to ensure that they have the capability in the business to manage a cyberattack without having to rely on an external provider. There will also be changes to the way that data is managed and potentially speed of access change too. This is why businesses need to really think about the implications of moving to the cloud before they commit.

Businesses need to really think about the implications of moving to the cloud before they commit.

Maurizio Stanca is a freelance procurement consultant. He specializes in the transformation of the Procurement function from Transitional/Administrative to Strategic.