SaaS adoption has skyrocketed in the past few years. We saw a decade of digital transformation happen in a matter of months. SaaS costs surged to help employees become accustomed to remote work. CFOs are being pushed to find ways to better predict, manage, and reduce SaaS costs. Without proper SaaS spend management, finance teams can overspend thousands on unnecessary SaaS costs. Here are 4 SaaS management strategies CFOs can use in 2022.
Maintaining clear SaaS records is a highly important SaaS management strategy. Costs can vary based on usage, licenses, or added features, causing the monthly spending to differ each month. Maintaining clear records ensures you stay compliant and have the most accurate assessment of SaaS costs across all departments. Note down who has access to every SaaS tool i.e. billing owner and users.
Be aware of annual SaaS subscription periods. It’s easy for SaaS tools to automatically renew, regardless if you use them or not. Most SaaS vendors also impose a 30-day cancellation period. Ensure you cancel unused SaaS tools before it becomes another sunk cost. Adopting this SaaS management strategy will help reduce your SaaS costs.
Many startups don’t realise that any SaaS tool paid in a foreign currency can come with a 3-5% exchange fee. These costs begin to add up, and it becomes a missed savings opportunity. A strategyto avoid this is to pay your SaaS tools in the currency it’s charged in.
Shading IT refers to the unauthorised purchase of SaaS tools in a company. Shadow IT poses major security threats to a company’s data while creating an easy way for startups to waste money. To minimise this threat, create a strict onboarding process for all new SaaS purchases. This could include paying for new SaaS only with a manager's credit card or onboarding/offboarding process for new purchases.
SaaS management is complex, and CFOs can have a difficult time predicting SaaS costs. Investing in a SaaS management solution will save time, money, and automate processes for you. Hudled is a SaaS intelligence platform that helps finance teams in high-growth startups manage the full lifecycle of their SaaS. Get automated savings detection, immediate visibility into every tool, and data-backed recommendations designed to help you save as you scale. Try it for free today on a 14-day trial.