Companies need to manage their finances properly and plan investments wisely. The goal is to generate enough cash flow to sustain the operations and invest in the key areas necessary for growth and development. To do that, you need to pay attention to the things that are harming your company’s runway-- a.k.a. inefficient or unnecessary spending.

According to Gartner, as much as 55% of companies’ SaaS spend is wasted. This is where SaaS management comes in. You need to properly examine your SaaS spending to optimize costs and maximize the value of your software subscriptions.

SaaS management enables you to:

1. Audit and Optimize Subscriptions

You need to gain visibility on the number of licenses you’re paying for and how much they’re costing you. Assess whether or not these apps are actually being maximized and free up wasted cash by cancelling the subscriptions that are unused or heavily underutilized. Use SaaS spend management tools like Talisman to instantly audit, track, and optimize your subscriptions. Make sure that you’re only paying for what you need.

2. Negotiate Better Terms

There are a lot of insights you can gain from a SaaS management tool that you can refer to when negotiating for better terms. Perhaps instead of cancelling a subscription before renewal, you can negotiate better terms with the vendor if the software app in question is not actually heavily utilized. It’s better to come equipped during negotiations, and even a few discounts can already go a long way toward increasing cash flow in your business

3. Centralize SaaS Management

Without a centralized dashboard, you will have to use spreadsheets and manually track your software subscriptions, their costs, and their level of utility. Whenever anything changes, you need to update your documents which can be downright time-consuming and inefficient. Using SaaS management tools like Talisman allows you to have an overview of everything that’s happening in your tech stack and look at real-time data and valuable insights for cost-cutting and SaaS management optimization.

4. Monitor Usage and User Adoption

Your SaaS spend is a wasted investment if the adoption is low. Make sure that your team members are actually using the SaaS tools you have acquired. Using a SaaS subscription management tool helps you track user activity, which gives you a hint that either the subscription is not necessary or employee training is required.

5. Encourage Accountability and Training

Monitoring user adoption encourages accountability and training. It’s important to ensure that employees are using the tools effectively and efficiently. This way, you can make the most of your SaaS investment while helping employees adopt more efficient processes for better productivity overall.

6. Implement User Access Controls

You need to make sure that only the right people are having access to certain tools and features. This is a matter of control and security, which can be done more efficiently with a SaaS management tool. With tools like Talisman, you can simply drag and drop users to the group they belong and give instant access only to the chosen users. No need to log in to every subscription tool to provision and de-provision users. With Talisman, everything can be done in one centralized dashboard. Not paying attention to user access controls could mean security risks that can be a huge financial setback for your business.

7. Track Contract Renewals and Cancellations

Without proper subscription management, you’d pay for automatic renewals of software apps you actually no longer use. Tracking contract renewals and cancellations helps you avoid wasting your cash on unnecessary SaaS spending and cancel unused subscriptions on time.

8. Utilize Data Analytics for Optimization

There are more things a Saas management tool can do. It offers analytics and insights to identify user behavior, trends, and other loopholes or opportunities for cost savings. In the every business environment, it’s important to make data-driven decisions and take action promptly to stop throwing money down the drain.

Bonus Tip: 9. Explore Free Alternatives

As you look at the list of subscriptions under your company, check for open-source software and free alternatives that can get the job done free of charge. It’s all a matter of taking the time to find better, more cost-effective alternatives. Just do your due diligence well without compromising security and long-term strategy.

The benefits of SaaS management are too important to ignore. You should put the same effort into saving money the same way you exert energy into generating income and sales. Honor your company’s hard work thus far by taking care of your hard-earned revenue. Use Talisman to do a quick SaaS audit, and in a matter of minutes, you’ll be able to see how much money you can save by cancelling all the SaaS tools you have probably forgotten about.

Protect your runway. Use Talisman today!