Take control of expenses by aligning in-house resources with managed I.T. services.
What if the reason your I.T. costs keep rising isn’t inflation, but duplication?
The real budget drains are often hidden in plain sight: overlapping contracts, unclear vendor roles, and internal teams quietly doubling up on services.
As a business owner, clarifying who does what and whether you need all the tools in your technology stack can help uncover and eliminate unintentional waste. That freed-up cash can then accelerate critical business objectives or allow you to start that project you’ve been putting off for the last two years.
This article will help you spot common duplicate I.T. services such as cybersecurity, backups, and VoIP so you can finally reclaim that lost budget.
The Hidden Cost of Duplicate I.T. Services
Would you pay two plumbers to fix the same leaky pipe? Of course not. Yet, that’s what’s happening when your business has duplicate I.T. services.
Let’s say you have overlapping business I.T. support contracts, and your in-house team and an outsourced managed service provider (MSP) each claim backup responsibility. They invest in and manage separate backup tools to ensure the data is recoverable in the event of an undesired event, like a fire or a ransomware attack.
In this case, do you actually have a multi-pronged backup strategy, or are you effectively paying double for a single solution?
That’s just one example. You’re also leaving money on the table if you’re paying for antivirus licences, VoIP platforms, monitoring software, and other tools that your MSP already covers.
And guess what? You are also creating needless complexity in your technology architecture and employee roles.
That brings us to a few questions:
- Isn’t it time to ditch unused licenses, tools, and other duplicate I.T. services for a simple solution?
- How prevalent are duplicate I.T. services?
- How did we get here?
Why This Happens More Than You Think
Businesses waste $17 million annually due to inefficient purchasing, redundant functionality, and underutilized software applications, according to Zylo. They add six new apps to their ecosystem monthly and renew 70% of underutilized software licences on average.
Common reasons that lead to duplicate I.T. services include:
- Miscommunication between managed I.T. services and internal teams
- Lack of visibility into each vendor’s service scope
- Absence of a true I.T. vendor management process
- Poorly maintained or outdated MSP contracts
When’s the last time you conducted an MSP contract audit? Is your team handling what’s already covered by your I.T. partner?
Let’s review your ecosystem with a fresh lens to eliminate redundancies and bring peace of mind.
5 Areas Where Duplication Commonly Occurs
Duplicate I.T. services don’t happen intentionally, but they are relatively easy to spot. Here are the usual suspects to pay attention to:
- Cybersecurity tools
Are you still using the firewalls, antivirus, and endpoint protection you had set up before bringing in your managed I.T. services provider? - Backup and disaster recovery
Is there an overlap between the cloud and on-prem tools you use as part of your business continuity strategy? - VoIP and communication platforms
Do you really need a Zoom or Dropbox subscription when you already have Microsoft 365? - Help desk access
Who monitors your network, and where do employees turn for assistance? Are your internal team and managed I.T. services handling ticketing and monitoring concurrently? - Compliance support
Are you using one vendor for I.T. and another to help comply with industry regulations such as FTC Safeguards Rule, HIPAA, or PCI DSS?
When was the last time you audited your SMB cybersecurity strategy? Are you missing out on technology cost savings because of duplicate I.T. services?
Refer to this quick checklist when you conduct your MSP contract audit. If you answer yes to two or more, you likely have overlapping MSP services:
- You don’t know who owns data recovery.
- Two vendors monitor the same alerts.
- Two or more vendors offer the same types of services.
- Two or more vendors have active contracts for the same services (but you didn’t know it because one as a provider you thought you’d canceled).
- Your in-house team also “maintains” devices under your managed I.T. services provider’s scope.
Read more: How to Maximize the Value of Managed I.T. Services Partnerships.
How Attentus Managed I.T. Services Helps You Stop Paying Twice
Tired of those recurring subscriptions for redundant business I.T. support services? It’s time to leverage Attentus Technologies’ managed I.T. services advantage.
Here’s how our consultative approach accelerates your cost reduction:
- MSP contract audit – We start by reviewing every I.T. contract and service agreement. Our consultants map out what your vendors do and identify overlaps.
- Eliminate redundancies – We work with you to cancel or consolidate duplicate services.
- 100% service clarity – We document which vendor or in-house team is responsible for each I.T. function. This ensures 100% clarity so nothing slips through the cracks.
- Unified dashboard – We provide a single-pane-of-glass management dashboard that shows all your I.T. services in one place. You don’t have to switch between multiple tools to see your alerts, backups, or security events.
Ultimately, we’re in this for the long haul. At Attentus Technologies, we believe in being the answer, owning up to the problem, and building trusted relationships. These values guide every interaction we have with our clients, and that commitment has earned us an average client retention of over 10 years. As true partners in simplifying your I.T., we’ll even track your total cost of ownership over time, helping you identify savings and maximize value as your business grows.
Be confident that we’ll be upfront about any overlaps we find, even if it means reducing work for ourselves. We’re committed to being “easy to work with” and trustworthy.
It’s time to find concrete answers. We’ll tell you where you’re overspending.
