Executive Briefing · CFOs

CFO Guide to Technology Waste

Technology waste is not only unused licences. It includes duplicated capability, manual reconciliation, integration overhead, shadow systems and the operating cost of complexity.

Questions leaders should ask

  1. 1.Which systems duplicate capability we already pay for?
  2. 2.What is actual active usage rather than contracted seat count?
  3. 3.Which renewals occur without an accountable business owner?
  4. 4.How much staff time is spent moving or reconciling information between systems?
  5. 5.What would consolidation cost, including migration and operational disruption?
  6. 6.Which apparently expensive systems are actually critical and should be retained?

Practical next actions

  • • Create a system inventory with owner, purpose, spend, users, integrations and renewal date.
  • • Measure usage before cancelling licences.
  • • Identify functional overlap and manual integration effort.
  • • Model consolidation cost and payback rather than treating licence saving as net benefit.
  • • Review major renewals against business value and exit cost.

This briefing is general decision-support material, not legal, regulatory, financial or investment advice. Apply sector-specific obligations and evidence before acting.

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