Case Study: Achieving $6.8M in Annual Savings and Improved Performance for an Application Team

“Transforming Tech Spend: How One Application Team Saved $6.8M in annual spend  (41%) and Boosted Performance Through Strategic Optimization”

Problem:

An application team within a large organization was facing escalating technology spend, inefficient resource allocation, and delays in delivering critical business applications. The team was responsible for ensuring the performance of key applications, but increasing software license costs, engineering spend, and operational inefficiencies were causing substantial overspend.

The quarterly technology spend had reached $4.1M, with the performance of critical applications suffering and project timelines being delayed. There was a lack of visibility into overall spend, leading to fragmented resource allocation and wasted expenses. Furthermore, siloed tools and workflows added to the complexity, preventing the team from managing costs and improving performance effectively.

Solution: A Holistic Approach to Technology Spend Optimization

Our solution focused on adopting a comprehensive, holistic approach to optimize technology spend, streamline processes, and improve application performance. The key steps included understanding all technology costs, reviewing contracts, and optimizing resource allocation.

Implementation:

1. Understanding All Costs and Resources:
   • Conducted a thorough audit of the team’s technology spend, analyzing:
     • People costs: Optimized the DevOps engineering workload to eliminate inefficiencies.
     • Software licenses: Identified redundant or underutilized tools and licenses.
     • Cloud and infrastructure costs: Reviewed cloud and on-prem resources to reduce overspending.
2. Review of Vendor Contracts and Optimization:
   • Streamlined the vendor landscape by consolidating 22 vendor contracts into one, simplifying management, and improving pricing terms.
   • Renegotiated cloud and SaaS contracts to reduce infrastructure costs and eliminate wastage from overprovisioning.
3. Identifying Big Wins Through Optimization:
   • Vendor Contract Consolidation: Reduced complexity by consolidating vendor contracts into one central agreement.
     • Result: Achieved a 21% savings by securing better terms and volume discounts.
   • Software License Optimization: Eliminated duplicate licenses and moved to more cost-effective solutions.
     • Result: Significant savings through license optimization and transition to more suitable software.
   • Standardizing Project Management Tools: Implemented standardized tools for better work prioritization and improved communication.
     • Result: Doubled productivity by improving team collaboration and aligning efforts with business needs.

The Impact:

By implementing a holistic approach to technology spend optimization, the application team was able to:

• Achieve $1.7M in savings per quarter (a 41% reduction in quarterly spend).
• Reduce application delivery cycle time from months to just two weeks.
• Improve system performance by 20%, making applications more responsive and reliable.
• Increase collaboration by eliminating silos and centralizing resources, boosting overall efficiency and productivity.

Conclusion:

This case highlights the power of taking a holistic approach to technology spend optimization. By understanding all technology costs, reviewing vendor contracts, and optimizing resource allocation, the application team achieved significant savings, improved performance, and streamlined operations.

In today’s complex technology environments, it’s not just about optimizing individual costs or tools—it’s about taking a comprehensive view of your entire technology spend, aligning it with business goals, and executing a strategy that enhances both efficiency and performance.

Let’s Partner to Optimize Your Technology Spend while transforming performance

This case study demonstrates how applying a holistic optimization approach can result in significant cost savings and operational improvements. Let us help you tackle your technology spend challenges and drive better performance across your teams