When I have used a system for a year, I want to know whether I am using it properly, so I am not paying for parts I have never touched.

Job context

Who

Whoever owns a system in use

When

Before each renewal

Trigger

A renewal invoice for things nobody can name

Situation

The seller has no reason to say you are over-buying

Constraints

There is nobody outside to check against

5 Pains

• No idea how much of the purchase is used

  High

  The package holds a lot nobody has opened.

  Root cause: Packages are sold as bundles rather than by what is used

• The seller does not mention over-buying

  High

  Because it lowers their revenue.

  Root cause: Whoever advises on usage also sells the renewal

• No idea how other organisations do it

  Medium

  So there is nothing to compare against.

  Root cause: Nobody shares how they use a system

• Habits formed in the first year and nobody revisits them

  Medium

  Even after the system has changed a great deal.

  Root cause: Reviewing how it is used is assigned to nobody

• No time to explore further

  Medium

  Because it is working well enough.

  Root cause: Without an incident there is no reason to look

5 Desired Outcomes

• Know how much of what was paid for is used

  Functional

• Have someone say plainly when they over-bought

  Social

• Know how other organisations use it

  Functional

• Have the way it is used reviewed regularly

  Functional

• Stop feeling they pay for something opaque

  Emotional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

• Ask the vendor how it should be used

  Service

  The deepest source of knowledge, attached to selling more.

• Read the internal usage reports

  Product

  Shows what was opened and never what should be used.

• Ask other organisations using it

  Behaviour

  The most useful source, outside every official channel.

• Hire an independent review

  Service

  A source not selling the renewal, and a hard expense to get approved.

• Renew as before

  Behaviour

  What most organisations do, preserving every surplus.

2 Opportunity Gaps

• The only party who understands deeply enough to say a customer is misusing or over-buying is the vendor, and saying so reduces their own renewal revenue.

  Why existing solutions fail: The customer success role on the vendor side is measured by renewal rate and expansion revenue, so the most honest advice, buy less, is the one thing that person cannot say.

  Potential opportunity: A fixed-fee review by someone not selling the renewal, positioned as a routine step before each cycle.

• There is nowhere to learn how other organisations use the same system, so each one works it out from scratch.

  Why existing solutions fail: The provider holds all the data on how customers use it and shares only the parts that flatter the product, while customers have no channel to each other except events the provider runs.

  Potential opportunity: A customer-run user group with the vendor not in the room.