We spoke to Laura Beales, the founder of Tally Workspace, to understand the benefits of prioritizing SaaS management from the get-go.
One of the first things Laura Beales did when taking on the adventure of starting Tally Workspace was to get a hold of a Cledara subscription.
That’s not a coincidence, since Cledara helped her manage her SaaS subscription stack at her previous company, where she led finance.
Some may think that getting control of SaaS subscriptions right off the bat when starting a company wouldn’t be a priority. Teams are still small, processes are limited and not much software is being used.
You see, Laura is ahead of the curve.
“If you put controls in the beginning with a tool like Cledara, you've got much more visibility on subscriptions, which gives you that control you need and stops that 'clean up operation' from happening later, when things have gotten out of hand.”
Laura saw firsthand the effects of poor SaaS management at her previous company and didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.
She brought Cledara on as soon as possible.
“Signing up for Cledara was a no-brainer. I’ve seen software subscriptions creeping up in previous companies, and once you realize the issue, you suddenly find yourself with a big expense and outdated processes that you wished you had monitored from earlier on.”
Today, Laura not only has full visibility over Tally’s software, but she also has a way to avoid duplicates and manage budgets effectively.
Laura explains that at her previous company, tracking subscriptions was always problematic. “It was quite easy for employees to sign up for a subscription, but not so easy to track once purchased.”
“We found ourselves realizing six months later that we were paying for something, when no one used it anymore and it just sat there. Or equally, when we had different teams sign up for the same subscription.”
And then the duplicates came.
“When we realized that we had multiple subscriptions for the same software - that was a bit of a shock.”
“Before Cledara, we had a vague idea that there were multiple subscriptions across teams. Normally, what happens is that teams just sign up for subscriptions, rather than requesting them - leading to duplicate subscriptions requiring eventual cancellation.”
In other words: duplicates and unused software abounded.
Today Cledara flags any potential duplicate when requested, rather than once a subscription has been set up.
“That’s the kind of process you want, and why it was a no-brainer for me to choose Cledara when we started Tally'', Laura says.
And not just that. The good thing about Cledara, Laura says, is that “you have real visibility over subscriptions, which makes it easy to monitor them. It’s clear who owns the subscription and the costs associated. To have that kind of control over the business is awesome.”
One of the key things in finance is having control over expenses and making sure that you understand those costs.
And software is a big piece in that puzzle. In fact, Laura states “going over your software budget it's a big problem, especially in a startup.”
Now Cledara helps Laura agree on the budget upfront with the budget holder and only then, set it up on the platform.
“The risk of going over-budget disappears,” Laura says. But the good thing: even though admins have greater control, teams aren’t constrained or discouraged from using software.
In fact, Laura confesses that “the ownership Cledara gives to each team’s budget” is one of the things she likes more about the platform.
“Cledara pays for itself, which makes it a complete no-brainer. I think that's one of my favorite things!”
Join 1,000+ customers and 6,000 software vendors to take control of your software today
Cledara is a proud member of the Mastercard Start Path program and Techstars
The Cledara Group consists of Cledara Inc., a Delaware Corporation and Cledara Limited, registered in the UK (11455373). Cledara Limited is registered under the UK Data Protection Act (ZA466806). Cledara Limited is a distributor of Modulr FS Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 09897919, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution (Firm Reference Number: 900573) for the issuance of electronic money and payment services. Your account and related payment services are provided by Modulr FS Limited. Whilst Electronic Money products are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) your funds will be held in one or more segregated accounts and the full value safeguarded in line with the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. Your card is issued by Modulr FS Limited pursuant to a license by Visa Europe. Visa and the Visa brand mark are registered trademarks of Visa Europe.Cledara Limited is also registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority as an EMD Agent (reference no. 902831) of PayrNet Limited, an Electronic Money Institution authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (reference number: 900594). The Cledara Virtual Debit Mastercard® is issued by PayrNet UK Limited pursuant to a license by Mastercard International. Cledara Limited is a partner of Modulr Finance B.V., a company registered in the Netherlands with company number 81852401, which is authorised and regulated by the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) as an Electronic Money Institution (Firm Reference Number: R182870) for the issuance of electronic money and payment services. Your account and related payment services are provided by Modulr Finance B.V. Your funds will be held in one or more segregated accounts and the full value safeguarded in line with the Financial Supervision Act. Your card is issued by Modulr Finance B.V. pursuant to a license by Visa Europe. Visa and the Visa brand mark are registered trademarks of Visa Europe.In the United States, the Cledara Virtual Credit Mastercard® is issued by CBW Bank pursuant to a license by Mastercard International Incorporated. By using the virtual card, the cardholder agrees to all terms under which it was issued.