What is SaaS?
SaaS (Software as a service) is today's most popular way of consuming software. Some SaaS companies examples include Salesforce, HubSpot, BambooHR, Figma, DocuSign or GitHub.
Why do I need a SaaS Management process?
As soon as you start paying for your first software subscriptions, we strongly recommend you start thinking about SaaS management. There are no-budget options available, and it will allow you to grow faster, saving you time, money and headaches.
(That they know about).
Why do I need a SaaS Management process?
As soon as you start paying for your first software subscriptions, we strongly recommend you start thinking about SaaS management. There are no-budget options available, and it will allow you to grow faster, saving you time, money and headaches.
How do I start managing my SaaS?
You have two options to get started that don’t require a budget. Here’s what you need to know about them.
Use a SaaS management template
In the very early stages of a startup, software subscription information typically lives in a spreadsheet since it is relatively simple to track. However, this can quickly become a problem, since spreadsheet data goes out of date quickly as you hire people and add new apps.
Download Cledara’s free software management template for a good starting point—just know that this is not a great long term solution, as a spreadsheet won’t scale with you as you grow.
Get started on a free SaaS management tool
In the very early stages of a startup, software subscription information typically lives in a spreadsheet since it is relatively simple to track. However, this can quickly become a problem, since spreadsheet data goes out of date quickly as you hire people and add new apps.
What’s wrong with managing my SaaS in spreadsheets?
While using a spreadsheet to manage your SaaS is better than nothing, you will very quickly discover its flaws as you use it. Here’s everything you need to know.
No reliable source of truth
Your spreadsheet is only as accurate as the last time you updated it. This means that as soon as an app renews or someone purchases a new tool, it will be out of date.
A pile of manual admin
Managing software in spreadsheets requires you to manually capture invoices, review cards statements and reconcile payments. This is time-consuming and often requires you to ‘chase’ stakeholders across the company to validate information.
Payments are high risk
If you’re buying software with shared company cards and don't use a dedicated system for software payments it's easy to lose control of what's being spent by who. More worryingly, business critical tools can be disrupted if cards are lost or blocked.
Limited visibility on tools
If you’re logging your tech stack in a spreadsheet, it’s hard to know whether a tool is really being used—let alone whether it offers a positive ROI.
If you ask your colleagues whether they’re still using a tool, they’re likely to just say “yes” for simplicity’s sake. Without a way to know whether they’re telling the truth or not, you’re going to be paying for tools that aren’t being utilized.
What are the benefits of a SaaS management tool?
The goal of SaaS management is to improve the value people get from the apps they use, reduce the risk of uncontrolled tools in a company, and increase the effectiveness of the teams who rely on it to drive success.
SaaS management platforms like Cledara give you the peace of mind that people have the right software in their hands and that things are under control.
It sounds simple enough. But if you’re reading this, you know that companies use more SaaS applications than ever and that as the number grows, it gets exponentially harder to keep up with.
Here are the benefits you need to know about SaaS Management platforms.
Gain visibility over all tools
It’s easy enough to manage one or two applications. But as your software stack grows, a lack of visibility quickly starts to become a problem.
SaaS management platforms like Cledara give you visibility over every piece of software your company uses and every dollar of tech spend, regardless how big or small.
From a single dashboard, you can see:
- A real-time view of all your apps
- Detailed insights into how much your team use every app
- The costs and renewal dates of every app
Control your tech spend
According to a recent survey, only 47% of companies are confident that all their SaaS tools add value to their organization.
A SaaS subscription management platform like Cledara helps you set spend controls to ensure every dollar of the tech budget is being put to good use.
You can:
- Approve software requests
- Set spend limits and cancel subscriptions in a click
- Flag duplicates and underused seats
Streamline Finance and IT admin
Every tool means a payment every month, an invoice, and multiple access requests. A SaaS management platform helps you streamline this admin burden by giving you a way to:
- Capture SaaS invoices automatically
- Sync payments and invoices to your accounting system
- Streamline software access in your organization
Hunt down Shadow IT
According to a recent survey, executives’ top software-related concern is the risk of privacy and data breaches. And Shadow IT is probably where the biggest concentration of that risk is.
SaaS management platforms like Cledara give you peace of mind that Shadow IT is under control, by giving you:
- A process to approve new tools that you control
- Set spend limits and cancel subscriptions in a click
- Alerts on Shadow IT usage
The term “Shadow IT” refers to software and hardware that is being used within a company but hasn't previously been authorized, managed, or supported by the IT department or other relevant stakeholders.
Ensure compliance
SaaS tools are hard to track, and even harder to chase stakeholders to ensure you comply with regulation.
A SaaS subscription management platform like Cledara gives you the peace of mind that you’re ready to pass (or maintain) your certificates.
You can:
- Natively embed compliance in your purchasing processes
- Delegate compliance questionnaires
- Access templates to meet ISO27001 and SOC2
- Check whether your software vendors are certified
For more tips and tricks to manage your software stack, visit our comprehensive Software Management Guide for startups.
How do I choose the right SaaS management vendor?
If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you understand that managing SaaS with spreadsheets and corporate cards is far from optimal—and unfortunately, doesn’t provide control or visibility over your tech stack.
You know you want something to solve that. Here are some requirements to help you find the perfect tool.
Identify the specifics of your SaaS management journey
We recommend mapping the journey of SaaS at your company and asking yourself what needs to be done each step of the way. This will help you ask the right questions to the sales reps of your SaaS management vendor.
The SaaS management journey brings together all the steps that companies go through to manage software tools effectively, throughout its whole lifecycle. It consists of four steps: Discovering the software tool, buying it, managing all the ins and outs, and finally, canceling it.
What questions should I ask SaaS management vendors?
SaaS management is a relatively new discipline because the proliferation of SaaS is also relatively recent.
Naturally, that leaves us wondering what do we exactly need from a SaaS management vendor. Here’s what you need to know for every step of the journey.
1. Discover
With +25,000 SaaS tools available, it becomes harder to discover the right app. Your software management vendor should make the discovery process easier.
Questions to ask on Discover:
2. Buy
It’s never been easier to buy software. Trials are seamless, subscriptions roll over to paid commitments, and before you know it, you have yet another subscription on the corporate card — perhaps for several years.
Your software management vendor should provide secure payments to control software purchases and renewals.
Questions to ask on Buy:
3. Manage
Once you’ve discovered and bought a software subscription, chances are your company will use it for months or even years. This doesn’t mean that your work is done.
SaaS tools require regular care and dedication. Your SaaS management vendor should help you streamline that.
Questions to ask on Manage:
4. Cancel
It makes little sense to continue to pay for software that doesn’t provide value. Yet vendors make it easy to buy software, but some make it challenging to assess the value and, sometimes, to even hard to cancel it.
Your SaaS management vendor should flag software that’s providing questionable value and give you an easy way to cancel it, when needed.
Questions to ask on Cancel:
