Escalating energy prices have been high on the media agenda due to conflict in the Middle East. But there are other price increases that businesses need to be aware of and that’s the steady rise in costs of technology subscription services.

Many of us have become reliant on the likes of Microsoft, Google and AWS (Amazon Web Services) but as the fee for annual licenses escalates, perhaps now is the time to re-evaluate the services you use and if you’re getting maximum value from them.

Providers are also ‘bundling together’ services. For example, Google has increased the price of its Workspace product (that includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, etc) to reflect the fact that its AI tool is now included in the standard Workspace plan, instead of being sold as a separate add-on. And whilst the major tech firms started introducing price changes in 2025, many customers are only noticing it in 2026 when their subscriptions come up for renewal.

With this in mind, now is the time to make sure you really are making the most of what you’re signed up to.

Explained Adam: “What we’re seeing is less and less granularity with products so they become broader in their offering to appeal to a wider customer base. Our clients may need a particular license, but only use one of the functions and not the other three or four that they are paying for. This starts to become costly if you have several license subscriptions that have all increased in price and it’s particularly challenging for small businesses that may not have as much financial flex as larger organisations.

“We would advise clients to audit these paid-for services and really analyse which ones are business critical and see if there is overlap between different products. This is something we can help with here at Lifeline IT, if you need guidance around the different services, as it can be quite complex.”