Small Shifts, Big Savings: The IT Tweaks That Actually Pay Off

Published 16/07/25 under:

When people talk about IT cost savings, they usually focus on the big moves. Data centre exits. Cloud migrations. Full-stack consolidation. 

But often, the most effective savings come from much smaller changes. 

Think of this as tightening the bolts. Small operational improvements that quietly deliver real impact. 

This post is about those everyday tweaks. They do not need a massive project plan or six-month runway. Just some attention, intention and a bit of follow-through. 

Review your default policies

Policies get set, then forgotten. But the defaults you set three years ago might now be driving unnecessary spend. 

A few examples: 

• Cloud retention policies keeping logs far longer than needed 

• Overly cautious auto-scaling thresholds 

• Email archiving rules duplicating data 

Revisiting these settings can lead to instant savings with no disruption. 

Turn off what is not being used

You would be surprised how much cost is hiding in orphaned resources and inactive licences. 

Things to check: 

• Licences assigned to leavers 

• Test environments still running 

• Old integrations that no longer serve a purpose 

We recently helped a client shut down over £30,000 a year in unused services. No tech debt. Just quick wins. 

Rethink how you patch and update

Automatically updating every device the second a new patch lands might sound like good hygiene, but it can increase risk and cost. 

By staging rollouts, testing updates with a smaller group first, and aligning patching to business risk, you improve stability and reduce overheads. 

Automate one task

You do not need a full automation roadmap. Just pick one process: 

• New starter onboarding 

• MFA reset requests 

• IT ticket triage 

Automate it. Prove the time saved. Then use that success to automate the next. 

It is a snowball effect, and it starts with one task. 

Ask your vendors what you are missing

Most software platforms evolve faster than most IT teams can keep up. That means you might already have access to features you are about to buy elsewhere. 

Call your vendor. Ask: 

• Are there features we have not enabled? 

• What are your other customers using that we are not? 

• Can you help us do more with what we have? 

A good partner will welcome that conversation.