![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783585700_95_1754647931518-c07d65db-55b5-463e-ae51-976300c5837e.jpeg\"\/)
The 9 per cent VAT rate has been welcomed by restaurants but does the hospitality sector actually need it?<\/p>\nLarge organisations in Ireland waste hundreds of thousands of euros each year on \u201czombie projects\u201d while neglecting their IT strategy, says a report from Saros Consulting.<\/p>\n
According to its 2026 strategy report, the average large enterprise in Ireland spends \u20ac667,000 annually on such projects. <\/p>\n
The report defines a \u201czombie project\u201d as one that is \u201ceffectively dead in terms of value, progress or strategic relevance, but continues to consume time, money and resources because nobody has formally stopped it\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cZombie projects represent one of the biggest hidden costs for businesses in Ireland,\u201d said Ray Armstrong, co-founder and co-chief executive of the independent IT consultancy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet, still, organisations continue to invest in initiatives that no longer align with business objectives because the perceived hassle of stopping them outweighs the cost of maintaining them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could include explanations to the board, training their people on new systems, or the cumbersome processes involved in retiring software.\u201d <\/p>\n
Justin van der Spuy, co-founder and co-chief executive of Saros Consulting, noted the wider problems created by zombie projects, saying these \u201cnot only create costs but also create debt and risk\u201d. <\/p>\n
The 9 per cent VAT rate has been welcomed by restaurants but does the hospitality sector actually need it?<\/p>\n
According to Saros, its research suggests a link between weak IT strategy and the zombie projects. One in five large organisations said they did not have an IT strategy in place, while just half of those surveyed believed the IT plan they did have was \u201cambitious\u201d. <\/p>\n
Among those organisations that did report having an IT strategy, just two-thirds said their leadership team understood the strategy, while a further 14 per cent said their strategy was not up-to-date. <\/p>\n
\u201cOrganisations who take a no-tolerance approach to outdated projects and ensure their IT strategy remains aligned with business objectives will be far better positioned to respond to changing market demands,\u201d Van der Spuy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is needed now is greater visibility into where technology budgets are being spent and whether that spending is strategic or wasteful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Saros Consulting 2026 strategy report surveyed 200 IT decision-makers in organisations in Ireland with 250-plus employees on their attitudes towards IT strategy, governance and technology investment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Large organisations in Ireland waste hundreds of thousands of euros each year on \u201czombie projects\u201d while neglecting their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[174],"tags":[77467,156954,79,245561,120413,245562,215536,179,18,245563,245564,245565,21179,440,17590,120017,245566,39883,39884,245567,19,4286,17,245568,132936,14876,7163,4277,9870,120968,2603,4238,245560,15641,3476,180983,2375,245569,245570,39889,39890,155422,11420,105186,245571,245572],"class_list":["post-576547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-appliance","tag-broken","tag-business","tag-computer-printer","tag-crushed","tag-damaged","tag-dirty","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-electric-fan","tag-electric-fixture","tag-electric-heater","tag-electrical-equipment","tag-environment","tag-equipment","tag-garbage","tag-garbage-dump","tag-group-of-objects","tag-heap","tag-household-fixture","tag-ie","tag-industry","tag-ireland","tag-junkyard","tag-landfill","tag-large-group-of-objects","tag-metal","tag-microwave","tag-nobody","tag-obsolete","tag-old","tag-outdoors","tag-oven","tag-plastic","tag-pollution","tag-radiator","tag-recycling","tag-run-down","tag-scrap-metal","tag-stack","tag-stacking","tag-toxic-waste","tag-transportation","tag-unhygienic","tag-vcr","tag-weathered"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}