Most businesses do not know they are overspending on IT
IT overspend is rarely dramatic. It is not a single catastrophic decision — it is the accumulation of contracts that auto-renewed, providers that were not benchmarked, technology that was right three years ago but is no longer optimal, and decisions that were never reviewed. The result is an IT estate that costs significantly more than it should and delivers less than it could.
Here are the five most common signs we find when we carry out a free IT review.
1. Your telecoms contract is more than 18 months old
The telecoms market moves quickly. Tariffs that were competitive 18 months ago are often 20-30% above market today. If your mobile, broadband, leased line or voice contract has been in place for more than 18 months without a formal review, the chances are you are overpaying. A telecoms audit — at no cost — will confirm it either way.
2. You are still running on MPLS for multi-site connectivity
MPLS was the right choice 10 years ago. For most businesses in 2026, SD-WAN delivers better performance for cloud applications, better resilience and 30-60% lower cost. If you are still paying for MPLS circuits without having assessed SD-WAN, you are probably overpaying for connectivity.
3. Your servers are in your own building
Running your own server room is almost always more expensive than colocation once you factor in the true cost of power, cooling, physical security, redundant connectivity and engineering resource. And most in-house server rooms cannot match the uptime, security and resilience of a professional data centre.
4. You have not done a backup restore test in the last 12 months
If you have not tested whether your backup actually restores, you do not know if it works. Most businesses discover backup failures during an incident — which is the worst possible time. An independent backup assessment will give you confidence or identify the gaps.
5. Your phone system uses ISDN lines
ISDN is being switched off in January 2027. If your phone system relies on ISDN, you need a migration plan. The businesses that are migrating now are getting better commercial terms and more choice of provider than those who wait until the deadline approaches.
What to do next
Open Way Technologies provides free, independent IT reviews for UK businesses. If any of the above resonates, contact us — we will assess your current IT estate and tell you honestly where the most valuable improvements are available.