Recently I read a story about a finance manager from a medium sized business who cancelled all the company credit cards except the finance department’s credit card because they were so fed up with all the account chaos. Very quickly their payroll and their web site (source of their income) stopped working because those credit cards were cancelled. I did laugh when I read this story but I also appreciate how much more complicated it is these days to manage all these critical business accounts.
You need to change an expiring credit card, how do you know which accounts it’s tied to? You get a new card with more points and you want to use it for the biggest monthly purchases. Perhaps miss your domain name renewal because you didn’t know it was expiring and you had an old credit card on the account. Time to unsnarl your software management.
Unsnarl software management
How do we unsnarl, untangle all these accounts? I have developed a spreadsheet for my clients to track software and other tech account details. Basically you need to combine information found in your password manager, credit card statements and invoice details.
Things you must track:
- when the account expires
- credit card number tied to account
- purpose of the account
- user name/email associated
Purpose is important because sometime we buy software or a service for a project that then completes or cancels. Also I have found with some clients they are paying for the same service or software type from multiple companies. I can help businesses amalgamate/transfer items and lower their software bill.
Also worth tracking: does the account have multifactor security on it? If who tied it to what phone and what authenticator app. I warned one client they needed to make sure they had two admins with access to key accounts requiring MFA. They ignored my warnings, their office manager left and they lost access to their M365 and web site accounts because they didn’t track the MFA on those accounts and make sure it got moved over.
I don’t recommend you put your passwords into this spreadsheet. Why? Those are more secure in a password manager. And this tracker will be shared with your bookkeeper and staff.’
I do recommend you track the annual cost of all the software and services. The finance manager who abruptly cut off all those credit cards, they were trying to manage escalating costs.
Software security
Another important reason to track software: security. Hackers broke into several big companies by tricking employees to add a third party app to connect to their Salesforce account. Employees assumed it was just one more tool required for work and authorized access. Google found the hack and then discovered they were a victim.
Your software tracking sheet can provide a list of authorized software for employees.
Unsnarl your software management: track your accounts and avoid lost services.
