IT Systems

It matters most to businesses that don’t think of themselves as tech businesses, because nobody has ever reviewed the spend or the process. Trades, wholesalers and professional services are where I find the biggest savings.

You don’t need to become technical. You need someone independent to look at what you buy and how the work flows, then explain it in plain terms.

In small businesses it almost never does. It removes the parts of the job nobody wanted — retyping, chasing paperwork, fixing avoidable errors — and gives that time back to work that actually earns money.

The usual outcome is that you grow without hiring another administrator, and the people you have stop resenting their afternoons.

Start from the process, not the feature list. Write down what has to happen from enquiry to payment, then check which product does that with the fewest manual steps and talks to what you already run.

Then check three unglamorous things: can you export your own data, what does it cost as you add people, and what does support actually look like when something breaks at 4pm on a Friday.

Usually simpler rather than strictly cheaper. Cloud converts a large occasional purchase into a predictable monthly cost and removes the hardware failure risk, which suits most small businesses.

It isn’t automatic though. Per-user pricing adds up as you grow, and poor internet makes cloud-only painful. The right answer depends on your headcount, your connection and what you actually run.

Formally once a year, and properly — not just accepting the renewal email. Check what you are contracted to receive against what you actually receive, and what response times are guaranteed in writing.

Reviewing doesn’t mean switching. Some providers are excellent and deserve to keep the work. But an unexamined contract drifts, and you end up paying for staff and services you no longer have.

No. In the coaching relationship I’m independent by design — I review, advise and hold you accountable, but I don’t hold the support contract. That separation is what makes the advice trustworthy.

If you need hands-on support I’ll help you specify it properly and introduce you to providers I trust, then review the quotes with you before you commit.

There is no honest one-size number, and anyone quoting a percentage of revenue is guessing. What I can do is show you what you currently spend, what each item delivers, and what comparable businesses pay for the same thing.

In practice the first review usually reduces the bill. It is far more common for an SME to be overpaying for overlapping products than to be genuinely under-invested. The coaching fee is often covered by that alone.

Enormously. Buyers discount heavily for a business that only works because the owner remembers everything. Documented, automated processes and clean data are exactly what makes a business transferable.

I’ve exited two businesses myself, including one sold with no earnout attached, and the systems work was a large part of why. Start it years before you plan to sell, not months.

The software and hardware your business runs on: email, accounting, job management or CRM, phones, file storage, backups, and the way they connect (or do not) to each other.

Most small businesses have too many of them, half-used and not talking to each other. The IT Systems pillar is about picking fewer tools, automating the boring bits and making the whole thing cheaper and safer — drawing on 20+ years of running an IT company.