Nobody can list the systems the business runs on

Ask where the business's records live and the honest answer is five places and some phones. Each system arrived to solve one problem - a tracker here, a shared drive there, a package someone liked at a previous firm - and nobody owns the picture of how they fit together, because the picture has never existed.

Without an inventory, the expensive problems stay invisible. Two systems half-hold the variations and disagree; nothing at all holds the notices; the knowledge of where things live walks out with every leaver; and every attempt at improvement starts blind, which is why so many of them add a sixth place instead of removing one.

The inventory is the unglamorous fix: one page per system - what it holds, who owns it, what feeds it and what it feeds. It is the document every later decision stands on.

If you would rather it were done for you, Business Systems Review is the service that does it.