Real outcomes. Anonymized. Precise.

705k

EUR/yr total detected

3

industries covered

1,850

employees across cases

48h

fastest delivery

Series B fintech, 400 employees, 3 offices. Rapid headcount growth from 90 to 400 in 18 months had generated tool sprawl. No central SaaS inventory. Finance estimated 180k EUR/yr in software spend but had no line-item visibility beyond top 5 vendors. Shadow AI adoption across engineering and product teams was untracked.

Ghost Tax pipeline identified 23 active SaaS tools from public signals and declared spend data. 12 of 23 showed usage patterns inconsistent with seat count. AI tool redundancy flagged across 4 categories (writing, coding, data analysis, meeting notes). Exa enrichment cross-referenced vendor pricing baselines. Confidence score: 71/100 (strong).

Decision Pack delivered in 31 hours. CFO memo quantified 340k EUR/yr exposure (range: 290k-390k). Tool consolidation roadmap reduced active vendors from 23 to 11. AI governance policy implemented. Actual savings realized at 9-month mark: 310k EUR/yr. ROI on audit: 7x in year one.

“The CFO memo landed in my inbox before I expected it. The board one-pager was shared at the next governance meeting without any preparation on our side. That kind of decision velocity is what we needed.”

— VP Finance, Fintech Scale-up, Western Europe

1,200-employee manufacturer with 6 autonomous business units. Each unit had independently procured cloud and AI tooling without central oversight. Group IT estimated 600k EUR/yr in cloud and AI spend but variance between units was opaque. Two Microsoft EA renewals pending within 90 days — no negotiation leverage identified.

Pipeline detected 180k EUR/yr in AI overspend from tool redundancy and idle compute. Renewal Sniper plugin flagged both Microsoft EA windows with 60 and 82 days remaining. Benchmark engine placed the company at 74th percentile for cloud spend per employee in manufacturing — 28 points above industry median. Confidence score: 68/100 (strong).

Negotiation playbook delivered for both Microsoft renewals. Combined negotiated discount: 90k EUR over 3 years. AI consolidation across 6 units reduced redundant tooling spend by 180k EUR/yr. Group IT now has a unified vendor governance policy. Total exposure addressed: 270k EUR/yr.

“We had the right data at exactly the right moment before renewal. The negotiation playbook gave our procurement lead a clear script — we got a 22% discount we wouldn't have known to ask for.”

— Group IT Director, Manufacturing, DACH

250-employee consulting firm, Paris. Recent merger had doubled headcount but not rationalized the software stack. Both legacy stacks remained active. Finance was paying for 250+ seats on tools with fewer than 80 active users. No usage data available — IT had lost track of what was provisioned for acquired staff.

Ghost Tax identified 14 tools with significant seat-to-user mismatch from public enrichment and declared headcount data. License waste module calculated 95k EUR/yr in zombie license exposure (range: 78k-112k). Delivery time: 48 hours from domain submission. Confidence score: 64/100 (strong).

Board one-pager presented at same-day executive committee meeting. IT rationalization mandate issued. 14 tools reviewed, 6 licenses renegotiated or terminated within 30 days. 95k EUR/yr savings confirmed at 6-month audit. Procurement lead promoted the Ghost Tax approach as the standard for future M&A integration.

“We used the board one-pager in the exec committee meeting the same afternoon it arrived. The numbers were precise enough to mandate action, and the corrective path was already mapped.”

— Managing Director, Consulting Firm, Paris