Almost 50% of most IT budgets go to external service providers, yet most IT leaders are not equipped to manage this spend, which often leads to unnecessary contract renewals, contract overpricing, and lack of visibility into service-level agreements amongst other challenges.

Why creating and maintaining a Technology Vendor Strategy (TVS) is critical

Managing a growing IT contract portfolio can be an overwhelming responsibility.

Without the right systems and processes to help keep the IT organisation on track, as well as manage variances and supplier risk for all IT contracts, complications could arise which take up valuable time and effort.

One of the solutions IT Leaders often look for to help regain control of their agreements is being able to track vendor spend and identify risks associated with service delivery.

By using the contract register in ClearCost, combined with custom reporting capabilities, IT Leaders can better understand which agreements impact service delivery and monitor expenditure trends going forward.

3 ways to align & optimise your IT contracts to your IT strategy

Here are three ways ClearCost’s Contract Register helps IT Leaders quickly get a handle on their IT vendors:

1. Be best prepared for renegotiation or termination of agreements

It is not uncommon for a business to have no formal contract management processes in place, and therefore the IT organisation fails to see key contract dates, which either lead to contract terminations or unwanted auto-renewals. This oversight may result in costing the business significant amounts of money.

ClearCost’s Contract Register gives IT Leaders clear visibility on contract renewals, which provides a way to see all your upcoming contract expirations in one place. IT Leaders commonly use ClearCost’s Contract Register to set alerts that typically remind them of an upcoming milestone for a particular agreement. This type of report gives the IT organisation a broader view of every contract that needs to be addressed in the near future.

2. Mitigate supplier risk and improve service delivery

Traditional contract management solutions help identify financial risk and financial commitments related to a supplier. ClearCost’s Contract Register additionally provides a service impact view, assisting service owners to identify the external risk associated with the delivery of a service.

By mitigating external risk associated with the delivery of a service, service managers can considerably improve the quality of service for their stakeholders and users.

3. Prevent misuse of spend and free funds tied up

Recording actuals against contract amounts not only assists IT Leaders to manage contract variance, it also helps the contract/procurement team better negotiate contracts in the future.

ClearCost’s Contract Register provides additional functionality, which is used to see trends in subscription or consumption-based contracts across years, quarters, or months, resulting in better contract negotiations and contract cost management.

Gain a single view of your vendor contracts

By automating the end-to-end process of contract management, ClearCost reduces friction throughout the contract lifecycle, all while allowing the IT organisation to stay in control of their contracts, eliminate fragmented vendor spend, and drive economies of scale.

To learn more about running your IT function like a business, visit www.clearcost.software today and sign up for a FREE demo.