Straight answers about technology spend assessments.

A technology spend assessment is an independent review of everything a business pays for across software, telecom, vendors, and connectivity. It identifies overbilling, unused subscriptions, redundant tools, and overpriced contracts, then quantifies the savings available. Stackstone's assessment is free and takes under 30 minutes of your time.

Models vary across the industry. Some consultants charge hourly or a monthly retainer. Stackstone never does: we're compensated through standard supplier commissions, and any fee we ever charge is only a share of savings actually realized. Because suppliers may compensate us, we disclose how we're paid for your engagement so you can weigh the advice accordingly.

Industry audits commonly recover 20–30% of telecom spend and 15–25% of software spend, because billing errors and unused licenses are common. Actual savings depend on how many vendors you manage and how long since contracts were reviewed; results vary and savings are not guaranteed. A free assessment quantifies your specific number before you commit.

Technology expense management is the practice of tracking, auditing, and optimizing what a business spends on technology, software, telecom, cloud, and connectivity. It evolved from telecom expense management, which covered phone and network costs only. Modern TEM covers the full vendor stack, which is where most overspending now hides.

Yes, when the advisor is transparent about how it's compensated. A legitimate assessment reviews your invoices and contracts, shows exactly where you may be overpaying, and projects estimated savings before you commit to anything. There's no obligation, and no upfront cost.

It reviews software subscriptions, telecom and connectivity contracts, cloud usage, and vendor relationships. The advisor flags duplicate tools, unused licenses, billing errors, and above-market pricing, then presents a prioritized list of savings opportunities with projected dollar amounts. Implementation, sourcing, negotiation, execution, can follow without disrupting operations.

The initial assessment takes under 30 minutes of your time. You share recent invoices and contracts; the advisor does the analysis. A full savings breakdown typically follows within days. Implementation timelines depend on contract renewal dates and how many vendors are involved.

A reseller earns commission from the vendors they sell, so their advice can favor those products. An independent advisor like Stackstone works across the provider market and discloses how it's compensated, typically through standard supplier commissions, so recommendations are based on fit and value rather than any single vendor relationship. Independence is the core of unbiased advice.

Businesses with 10–500 employees and multiple technology vendors, tools, locations, or contracts are most likely to be overpaying, especially if spend grew organically without a recent review. If no one has audited your software, telecom, and vendor contracts in the last 12–24 months, there is very often recoverable spend.

Often, no. Most of the savings we find come from fixing what you already have: billing errors, unused licenses, above-market rates, and contract terms that no longer fit how you operate. Where switching is clearly the better option, we say so and show you the comparison, but staying put and renegotiating is very often the stronger move.

Recent invoices, current contracts, and license or seat counts for your main vendors across software, telecom, and connectivity. Gathering those usually takes a few hours of coordination, not a project; most of it is forwarding documents someone already has. We handle the analysis from there and come back with findings your team can act on.

We treat your invoices, contracts, and pricing as confidential and will sign an NDA on request before you share anything. Your data is used only for your engagement, to check billing, benchmark pricing, and prepare negotiations, and it is not shared with suppliers or anyone else beyond what the work requires.

Then it costs you nothing. The assessment is free, and you keep the findings either way; a documented review of your contracts and billing is useful even when the answer is that you are in good shape. There is no obligation to proceed and no fee for the assessment itself.

Mostly mid-market and multi-location businesses, companies with enough technology spend across software, telecom, and connectivity to matter, but without a dedicated procurement team watching it. Our methodology comes from enterprise-grade expense management, sized down for that reality. If you run multiple locations, that is often where we find the most.

The assessment is free. For optimization work, Stackstone is typically compensated through standard supplier commissions on the contracts we help you source and manage, the same model used across the technology sourcing channel, so there is usually no direct cost to you. We never charge hourly or retainer fees; if an engagement ever includes a fee at all, it's only a share of savings actually realized, agreed in writing up front. Either way, we disclose exactly how we're paid for your engagement.