Top 200 Global
University
IT Total Cost of Ownership
Digital Transformation
Power BI
Higher Education
Students’ Union
Digital Operations
The University needed to understand the true cost of operating the Students’ Union’s technology environment not just its software and supplier invoices. It required an evidence-based view of visible expenditure, hidden operational effort, systems, contracts, support arrangements and organisational risk, together with credible options for future investment.
The environment supported approximately 25,000 students and 44 permanent Students’ Union staff, but operated without a dedicated internal IT function. Technology had evolved organically across multiple platforms, creating fragmented processes, duplicated data entry and significant reliance on spreadsheets and manual administration.
In one process alone, staff were completing an estimated 1,000–2,000 manual committee-role updates each year. Limited system ownership, supplier governance and consolidated reporting also constrained value realisation and increased key-person and operational resilience risks.
Maxica conducted a four-week, evidence-led diagnostic covering technology expenditure, applications, suppliers, operational processes, support arrangements and hidden staff effort.
The assessment engaged 12 university and Students’ Union stakeholders, consolidated 64 findings across eight diagnostic themes and benchmarked the operating model against comparable Russell Group Students’ Unions. The evidence was then used to model three future-state scenarios and develop an actionable transformation roadmap.
Maxica provided an interactive TCO dashboard showing cost drivers, application expenditure, support effort, asset lifecycle provision and operational opportunity, giving the customer the ability to explore what was driving their technology costs, identify areas of disproportionate spend and effort, and uncover opportunities for efficiency, rationalisation and future cost reduction.
*NOTE - Sample data used in illustration
Three scenarios were developed maintain, make targeted improvements, or transform giving leaders a transparent comparison of cost, risk, organisational capability and potential outcomes.
The recommended option translated the findings into a phased three-year roadmap covering governance, integration, application rationalisation, automation, self-service, reporting, supplier optimisation and a redesigned digital operating model.
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The assessment revealed that visible technology expenditure represented less than one-sixth of the estimated annual total cost of ownership. Once support resources, manual administration and asset lifecycle costs were considered, the true annual cost was more than six times the visible technology spend.
Manual administration alone accounted for more than half of the estimated total. This demonstrated that the greatest opportunity was not simply reducing supplier expenditure, but improving processes, integration, ownership and the effective use of existing technology.
Key Outputs
A defensible total-cost baseline: Visibility of visible and hidden costs.
A prioritised evidence base: 64 findings consolidated into eight themes and five opportunities.
Clear investment choices: Three scenarios compared the options and consequences.
A costed route forward: A three-year investment portfolio and operating model.
An actionable roadmap: Sequenced initiatives with risks and mitigations.
The diagnostic connected financial data with the operational reality behind the numbers. Technology expenditure, staff effort, fragmented processes, supplier arrangements and organisational capability were assessed as parts of the same operating model.
Stakeholder validation ensured the findings reflected day-to-day experience, while peer benchmarking and scenario modelling helped leaders distinguish between low visible expenditure and genuine value for money. The result was not simply a list of technology issues, but a decision-ready investment case and practical roadmap.
Software licences and supplier contracts are only part of the cost. Manual administration, duplicated processes, fragmented data and limited system ownership can represent a much larger financial and operational burden.
Maxica’s IT Total Cost of Ownership Diagnostic gives universities an evidence-based baseline, identifies where cost and capacity are being absorbed, and turns the findings into prioritised options and a practical transformation roadmap.
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