Someone who reads the contract first.
Technology is one of the largest line items a small business never negotiates. Software, licensing, telco, hardware and support agreements — bought by people whose job is not buying. I look at what you are paying, and I fix the terms.
- ERP subscriptionauto-renewed
- Mobile fleetnotice missed
- Backup & DR90 days left
- Support agreementopen
- Site connectivityopen
Illustrative. Most businesses cannot say which of theirs are locked.
- Regional Queensland
- Technology spend
- Fixed scope, fixed price
- No vendor commissions
Nobody owns this spend.
In most small and medium businesses, technology is bought by whoever needed it — the office manager, the operations lead, the owner. They are good at their job. Reading a vendor agreement is not their job.
- 01
The renewal that renewed itself
A 90-day notice window nobody diarised. The term rolled, and the price with it.
- 02
Licences for people who left
Seat counts go up when someone joins. They almost never come back down.
- 03
An uplift nobody agreed to
Five or seven percent a year, written into the term, accepted because the invoice simply arrived.
- 04
A support tier never used
Bought during an implementation years ago, still billed, never once called.
None of these are dramatic. That is exactly why they survive — each one is too small to chase, and together they are the reason the technology bill only ever goes up.
Four ways to bring me in.
Most businesses start with the last one, because it costs the least and answers the question.
Fractional
A day or two a week, ongoing.
- For businesses too small to justify a full-time buyer
- Owns renewals, vendors and the contract calendar
- Month to month — no lock-in
Interim
Cover for leave or a vacancy.
- Parental leave, long service leave, sudden departure
- Steps into the existing role and process
- Typically three to nine months
Project
One defined piece of work.
- A renewal negotiation or a competitive tender
- Consolidating overlapping vendors
- Fixed scope, fixed price, clear finish
Review
A one-off look at what you are paying.
- Contracts and technology spend, read properly
- A written list of what to renegotiate and when
- The cheapest way to find out if there is anything here
What gets looked at.
Technology spend specifically. I do not take on general category work — this is the ground where I can judge the product as well as the price.
- Software & licensing
- Subscriptions, seat counts, true-ups, renewal terms and the uplifts nobody queried.
- Telco & connectivity
- Mobile fleets, internet, site links. Long contracts, quietly expensive.
- Hardware & lifecycle
- Buy, lease or refresh — and what it costs across the whole term, not the quote.
- Managed services & support
- Support agreements, response commitments, and whether the tier you pay for is the tier you use.
- Cloud & hosting
- Committed spend, egress, and what happens commercially when you want to leave.
Four things wrong with this renewal.
A constructed example, not a client document. Every pattern in it is ordinary — tap the marked lines and see which ones you would have queried.
Vendor Software Pty Ltd
Term: 36 months from 1 July
- Platform subscription
- × $61/mo
- Support level
- Price escalation
- Renewal
- — 90 days notice
Tap any of the four marked lines to see what it costs.
Then you should not need me.
The work ends with the contract calendar in your hands. A procurement adviser who makes himself permanent has not finished the job.
- 01
See the spend
Every technology contract in one place, with its renewal date and notice period.
- 02
Find the leaks
Licences nobody uses, tiers nobody calls, uplifts nobody agreed to.
- 03
Negotiate
With the vendor, before the notice window closes rather than after.
- 04
Hand it back
Documented, with the dates in your calendar. You should not need me for the next one.
Regional
Queensland.
Regional Queensland is the focus deliberately. The businesses here carry the same contracts as the capitals and get far less scrutiny of them.
- On site
- Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Townsville and the Bowen Basin
- Remote
- Anywhere in Australia — most of this work does not need a room
- Not offered
- Vendor referrals or reselling. I am paid by you, only
Tell us what is going on.
One message is enough to start. We reply with a plain assessment and what it would cost — no obligation.
- hello@schmitt.au
- Phone
- TODO_PHONE
- Hours
- Mon–Fri, 8am–5pm AEST