Install a practical system to control SaaS spend: build an app inventory, reclaim seats, renegotiate renewals, and quantify savings.
Collection
Most companies do not have a "SaaS spend problem." They have a SaaS ownership problem.
This collection installs a beginner-safe operating system to:
stop paying for unused seats and redundant tools
prevent auto-renew surprises and true-up shocks
make SaaS spend explainable, auditable, and negotiable
This is value chain intelligence applied to SaaS:
Procurement: renewals, leverage, commercial terms
Finance: invoice integrity, chargebacks, cost center hygiene
IT and Security: access controls, offboarding, vendor risk
Operations: ownership, adoption, and continuous improvement cadence
Who this collection is for
Finance and AP leaders who need SaaS spend to stop drifting
Procurement teams managing renewals and vendor negotiations
IT and security teams who want fewer tools and cleaner access governance
Operators who want measurable savings without breaking workflows
What you will install
By the end of this collection, you should have:
a single SaaS inventory with owners and renewal dates
a seat reclaim and rightsizing motion you can run monthly
a renewal negotiation kit that restores leverage and prevents true-up traps
a simple savings estimator to quantify and defend savings
How to use this collection
Follow this order. Do not skip step 1.
Build the truth system (inventory plus ownership)
Use:
Run a seat reclaim and rightsizing sprint (then install a cadence)
Use:
Fix renewal leverage (avoid auto-renew, cap true-ups, reset terms)
Use:
Quantify and prove savings
Use:
Beginner-safe definitions
SaaS: Software delivered as a service (usually paid monthly or annually). Seat (license): A paid user entitlement. You may be billed per seat, per active user, per admin, or per feature tier. True-up: A contract term that bills you for usage or seats above a baseline (often retroactively at renewal). Auto-renew: Contract renews automatically unless you give notice. Notice window: The deadline to cancel or renegotiate (missing it kills leverage).
Why SaaS spend leaks
Most leakage comes from a few predictable failures:
purchases happen on corporate cards outside procurement
renewals are not owned and not tracked early enough
seat counts never shrink after headcount changes
vendors bundle features you do not use
invoice detail does not map to contract terms or actual usage
What "good" looks like
Monthly, you can answer these without guessing:
What SaaS tools do we pay for?
Who owns each tool (business owner and technical owner)?
When does each contract renew, and what is the notice window?
How many seats are paid vs active vs needed?
What are our top 10 SaaS vendors by spend and renewal risk?
Metrics to track (simple)
% of SaaS spend covered by inventory (target: 80% plus quickly, then 95% plus)
$ tied to renewals inside 120 days (target: 100% owned)
seat utilization by vendor (active seats divided by paid seats)
reclaimed seats per month and realized savings
number of tools in redundant categories (trend down)
Use this with these foundation resources (optional, but powerful)
(turn spend exports into clean categories)
(build a renewal calendar quickly)
(make contract terms visible)
(renewal governance plus notice-window discipline)
(reduce invoice leakage and disputes)
Install this operating system
Generate a step-by-step implementation plan for this collection. Use it to assign owners, sequence the work, and track completion.