Optimizing SaaS Spend
SaaS is easy to buy and easy to deploy. But SaaS tends to proliferate across departments, locations, and domains. Many SaaS applications don’t get used, leading to increased cost and time spent managing multiple license terms and vendors.
SaaS Management provides categorization and application roll-up in its Managed SaaS Applications page to identify and take action on redundant spend. If there is a right-facing arrow in front of an application name, this application has multiple instance listings. Click the arrow to reveal the multiple instances. The total for all the application instances are rolled up into the first row of the application’s annual spend, licenses, assigned users, and active users columns. The subsequent row totals are specific to each instance. After reviewing instances, you may see opportunities for reducing the number of instances, which may lead to a decrease in cost and the number of licenses to manage.
You can customize your view by turning the columns on or off, rearranging them, or by using available filters. For details on the column chooser or filtering options, see the user interface reference tables in Managed SaaS Applications.
Reviewing Application Categories
After your organization has populated your SaaS Management instance with your list of Managed SaaS Applications, the next step is to review application categories and identify opportunities for reducing cost and redundant applications. Following are recommendations for optimizing SaaS spend.
| • | Reviewing Applications by Category |
| • | Reviewing Applications by Sub-category |
Reviewing Applications by Category
This is the first level of granular data for determining which applications to standardize across your organization. The Category column has a clickable slideout to help your organization plan strategically for sourcing applications and managing the number of vendors. If there is a right-facing arrow in front of an application name, this application has multiple instance listings. Click the arrow to reveal the multiple instances. The Annual Spend tile identifies how much your organization is spending on each application category. The Sub-Categories tile identifies the number of sub-categories within a category. Each application can be further reviewed in terms of Annual Spend, Assigned Users, and Active Users. Based on cost and usage, there may be opportunities to identify redundant applications within the category. These opportunities may also reduce the cost and risk associated with managing redundant applications. Click an application in the Sub-category column to review applications by sub-category.
For further information on the Category user interface, see:
| • | Managed SaaS Applications Columns |
| • | Category Slideout Columns |
Reviewing Applications by Sub-category
This is the second level of granular data for determining which applications to standardize across your organization. If there is a right-facing arrow in front of an application name, this application has multiple instance listings. Click the arrow to reveal the multiple instances. The Annual Spend tile is the sum of all applications in the category. Each application can be further reviewed in terms of Annual Spend, Assigned Users, and Active Users. Based on cost and usage, there may be opportunities to identify redundant applications within the sub-category. These opportunities may also reduce the cost and risk associated with managing redundant applications.
For further information on the Sub-category user interface, see:
| • | Managed SaaS Applications Columns |
| • | Sub-Category Slideout Columns |