Technology and manufacturing
Technology and manufacturing businesses buy components, services, shipping and software from many outside parties. The agreements behind those purchases change over time, and invoices do not always follow.
Fairview Audit connects you with a partner firm that can review these areas. The firm does the review. Fairview does not.
Where costs build up
The two sectors differ, but they share a heavy reliance on suppliers. Common cost areas include:
- Contracts with suppliers of parts, materials and packaging, with pricing tied to volume, specification or delivery terms
- Facility and maintenance services, security, temporary labor and office or warehouse supplies
- Inbound freight, outbound freight and small parcel shipping
- Software subscriptions, user licenses and renewals
- Cloud and hosting services, which are generally metered and billed by consumption
- Printing and copy management
- Leased plants, warehouses and offices
A manufacturer tends to have more physical goods moving in and out. A technology company tends to have more software and service subscriptions. Many businesses have both.
Because these businesses buy in volume, small errors repeat. A unit price that is slightly off on a recurring order, or a surcharge that was meant to be temporary, can appear on every invoice for a long time. Reviews are most useful where purchases are frequent and the agreement has several moving parts.
Supplier contracts
Supplier agreements often include price schedules, rebates, minimum volumes and notice periods for renewal. Teams negotiate them, then the terms live in a file while invoices arrive from an accounting system. Gaps appear when a price change is not loaded, a rebate is not credited, or a service continues after the contract scope has changed.
A review reads the agreement and its amendments and compares them with invoices and payments. See Supplier contract compliance for technology and manufacturing for this pairing. The general category is Supplier contract compliance.
Freight and parcel
Moving goods is a cost line that grows with sales. Carriers bill by weight, distance, service level and added charges. Extra-service charges such as detention or liftgate service, plus fuel and other add-ons, can add up across thousands of shipments. Carriers usually list these as separate invoice lines. A review compares them with the rates and terms you agreed to, and with your booking records.
Manufacturers often ship pallets and full loads as well as small packages. Technology companies often ship devices, parts and returns. See Freight and parcel for technology and manufacturing and Freight and parcel.
Software licenses
Software is usually bought by seat, by usage or by tier. People leave, projects end and teams adopt other tools, but licenses can continue to renew. A review compares what you pay for with what is in use and what the agreement allows. Standards for IT asset management exist to help organizations track what they own and use. It can also show where you may be exposed because usage exceeds what you hold.
See Software and SaaS license audit for technology and manufacturing and Software and SaaS license audit.
How matching works
Partner firms differ in the categories and business sizes they serve. The detail for these sectors is not yet published. [CONFIRM: partner industry detail]
- Choose a request path: larger business, smaller business, or not sure or another need. There is no fixed size cut-off. Fairview matches each request by hand.
- Submit the form for that path.
- Your request goes to the matched partner firm, or to Fairview for manual matching.
- You talk with the firm directly. The engagement and any fees are between you and the firm.
Questions about these reviews
Do I need to choose one category?
No. You can list several cost areas in your request. The partner firm will say which it covers.
Will a review expose vendor pricing to others?
Your documents go to the matched partner firm. Ask the firm about confidentiality terms before sharing contracts. [CONFIRM: a partner firm supplies and approves this statement]
Who runs the software or freight systems during a review?
Your team does. The partner firm works from the data and documents you provide.
Tell us what you need reviewed. We match you by hand with an independent partner firm. You keep your existing vendors.Find out what you are overpaying.