IT Procurement | 'Stranger Things' Keeping IT Buyers Awake at Night
By Hugo Britt | August 4, 2022
*This post may contain Stranger Things spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.
There are a whole bunch of terrifying creatures stalking the night in Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things. Even for seasoned audiences inured to horror tropes, the writers still manage to inspire fear.
One of the reasons the series is so scary is because main characters, for most of the time, cannot actually see monsters like the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer even though they’ve deduced their existence.
You know what else is scary? Suffering from a lack of spend data visibility in IT procurement.
At the risk of stretching this analogy to its breaking point (go with us on this!), here are some of the spookiest similarities between poor data visibility and a Stranger Things creature.
Why invisible IT spend data is just as scary as a 'Stranger Things' monster
Is there something nasty lurking in your IT procurement data? Here are just a few of the most frightening challenges keeping IT buyers awake at night.
Shadow IT
Even worse than the Shadow Monster from season two, shadow IT is a threat facing organizations of every size. The term refers to the common situation where employees purchase software that hasn’t been authorized by the central team.
For example, the business may provide access to Microsoft Teams for videoconferencing, but an employee decides to download a subscription to Skype for Business because they prefer the interface. This situation leads to duplication, rising IT costs, and security risks.
TechTarget advises that shadow IT can cause:
- Slower response times and application execution times
- Network throughput delays
- Missed dates and times for execution of batch jobs, and
- Short-duration system outages.
Existing shadow IT can be combatted with the help of data visibility, enabling procurement to spot and address shadow software throughout the business. Future instances of shadow IT can be reduced by using firewalls, increasing employee awareness of the problem, and remaining diligent.
Auto-renewing software subscriptions
We’ve got no problem with Stranger Things being renewed for its final season, but we do have an issue with auto-renewing software subscriptions. Without visibility of contract expiry dates and auto-renewals, procurement and their partners in IT miss out on the opportunity to reconsider (change suppliers) or renegotiate the contract. This erodes value, as the organization will continue to pay the original price even if the market has gotten cheaper.
Organizations can combat auto-renewing contracts with IT spend visibility. Una can help you access 100% visibility of every IT contract and subscription in your organization, including upcoming expiry dates.
Poor value for money
When Joyce and Murray provide a $40,000 ransom to dodgy Russian pilot Yuri Ismaylov in Stranger Things season four, they quickly realize they will get very poor value for their money. Similarly, IT buyers risk receiving little value for their huge spend due to a perceived lack of solutions and the high cost of enterprise tools.
The problem is that until recently, there has been no Expedia for IT services. Una can connect our members with a technology savings platform, which provides market data across 50 million data points to reveal the best IT solutions, options, pricing, and more.
Having market data like this doesn’t mean you will need to switch suppliers. It will also help you benchmark current suppliers and hold them to account.
Supply chain cyber vulnerabilities
Stranger Thing’s Mind Flayer operates by taking over the minds and bodies of its victims, known as the “Flayed.” Don’t let your enterprise systems be flayed due to a lack of IT spend data visibility.
Who exactly are your suppliers? Do they have system or network access? Do they have approved cybersecurity policies? What about your suppliers’ suppliers?
A cybersecurity breach can lead to brand damage, financial loss, and business interruption. Gartner found that the average cost of downtime is around $300,000 per hour. The good news is that supply chain attacks can be reduced through careful supplier pre-qualification and a rigorous supplier information management system.
You can rest easy knowing your IT spend data is working to get you the best deal on everything you need to run your business. Contact the team at Una to learn more.
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