The job: Tools get added one at a time and rarely removed. Nobody is quite sure what the business pays for each month, or who still uses it.
What AI actually does here
- Groups transactions into recurring subscriptions, with the monthly and yearly cost of each.
- Flags likely duplicates (two tools doing the same job) and price rises.
- Drafts a short “do you still use this?” message to the people who own each tool, and cancellation steps once you decide.
Tools to look at
- General assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) with a spreadsheet upload
- Spreadsheet AI features (for example in Excel or Google Sheets)
- Your accounting software’s bank feed and reports
Named tools are examples, not endorsements. We have no paid relationships with them at the moment; see our disclosure.
What you need first
- A transaction export with card numbers and personal details removed. Business transactions can still contain personal data, so check what you’re uploading (see the ICO guidance).
- A rule that a person confirms with each tool’s users before anything is cancelled; AI suggests, you decide.
- Notice periods and annual renewal dates, which AI can’t see in a bank statement.
How to measure ROI
- Monthly subscription spend before and after.
- Time taken to do the review (it should be an hour or two, not days).
- Any tool that had to be re-subscribed because it was cut by mistake.
Run the numbers in the ROI calculator →
What the evidence says
No statistics cited. The saving is simply the subscriptions you cancel, which you can measure exactly from your own statements.
Ready-to-use prompt
Replace the [BRACKETS]. Only paste data you’re allowed to share with the tool you’re using.
View promptBelow is an anonymised export of business card and bank transactions for the last 12 months (columns: date | payee | amount | description).
Below is an anonymised export of business card and bank transactions for the last 12 months (columns: date | payee | amount | description).
"""[paste or upload]"""
1. Identify recurring payments (monthly, annual or usage-based). Output a table: payee | likely product | frequency | average monthly cost (£) | annual cost (£) | first seen | last seen | price change?
2. Group them by job (e.g. email, design, storage, accounting) and flag any job with more than one tool.
3. List payments you're unsure are subscriptions.
4. Draft a short message I can send to colleagues asking who uses each flagged tool.
Don't guess at products you can't identify: mark them UNKNOWN. Show your sums.Sources
- ICO, Guidance on AI and data protection Regulator guidance
- Xero UK (product page) Vendor page
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