Tools to keep software expenses under control

So you’re looking to wrangle your software expenses, I see. Managing software – particularly the sprawl of SaaS apps—isn’t just a technical task; it’s a critical financial one.

With the average enterprise now juggling 106 SaaS subscriptions and the resulting chaos—shadow IT, redundant apps, unused licenses—it’s time to move beyond spreadsheets and deploy a modern arsenal of tools to rein in runaway software costs.

To tackle this, a strategic blend of tools is required to provide the visibility and control necessary for significant cost savings.

This guide explores the essential components of a modern software expense management toolkit, focusing on the distinct roles each platform plays and culminating in the most critical solution for unified governance: the SaaS Management Platform (SMP).

The essential cost control toolkit

True software expense control requires collaboration and data from across the organization’s tech and finance stacks. While no single solution can solve the problem entirely, assembling a robust toolkit will provide the necessary foundation for managing and optimizing your software portfolio.

Financial visibility: Expense and ERP tools

To control what you spend, you must first know exactly where the money is going. Your existing financial infrastructure—specifically Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and dedicated expense management tools—form the starting point.

These tools track invoices, purchase orders, and expense reports, offering a complete, auditable record of all software procurement costs.

Popular ERP systems include NetSuite and Sage.

By integrating and standardizing how software purchases are logged in these systems, Finance gains the real-time visibility needed to compare budget projections against actual spend.

Security foundation: Identity and access management

Unused and stale licenses are a massive source of wasted software spending. Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools are crucial for mitigating this, like Okta and Microsoft Entra ID.

IAM platforms ensure that licenses are automatically provisioned and, more importantly, deprovisioned when an employee leaves the company or moves to a role that doesn’t require the software.

This not only strengthens your security posture but also provides the data necessary to perform accurate license reclamation and right-sizing, guaranteeing you are only paying for actively used seats.

The linchpin: SaaS management platforms (SMPs)

To move beyond tracking payments and logins to genuinely optimizing licenses and automating governance, both IT and Finance require a SaaS Management Platform (SMP).

An SMP is the only tool designed to connect the dots between security, finance, and operations by focusing on the actual utilization and lifecycle of every SaaS application.

How an SMP delivers deeper cost control

1. Real-time usage intelligence

An effective SMP integrates directly with your applications via APIs, going beyond basic login data to capture granular feature-level usage metrics.

Reclaim shelfware: Identify licenses that are provisioned but underutilized or completely unused (the costly “shelfware“). An SMP can report that an expensive Pro license hasn’t utilized a single Pro-tier feature in 90 days, enabling an immediate, data-backed downgrade.
Right-sizing renewals: Provide procurement teams with empirical evidence of adoption and usage when negotiating renewals. This shifts the conversation from vendor estimates to verifiable metrics, leading to more favorable contract terms and shedding excess capacity.

2. Comprehensive discovery and governance

SMPs provide the full picture of your application ecosystem.

Full shadow IT discovery: By correlating data from financial systems, identity providers, and network monitoring, an SMP can discover, risk-assess, and track all apps in use, even those flying under the radar.
Redundancy elimination: Compare features and usage across similar applications (e.g., two different document signing tools or three different project management systems) to standardize on one cost-effective solution and eliminate wasted spend on overlap.

3. Automated SaaS lifecycle management

The greatest long-term savings come from automating repetitive, high-volume tasks.

Automated offboarding: Upon employee departure, the SMP automatically deprovisions access across all connected SaaS apps, immediately reclaiming the license and preventing costly rollover subscription fees—a process that is often missed or delayed when done manually.
Usage-based downgrades: Implement automated rules to downgrade licenses based on configurable usage thresholds, ensuring that your organization is only paying for the exact tier of service users require.

How BetterCloud keeps software expenses under control

As an IT admin, your budget is constantly under pressure. The sheer number of software subscriptions (known as SaaS sprawl) means you’re likely paying for unused or redundant tools—often without even realizing it. BetterCloud helps you tackle these financial challenges head-on by giving you complete visibility and control over all your cloud-based software spending.

Here is how BetterCloud helps IT teams master software expense management:

1. Find every app and expense – and stop shadow IT

You can’t manage what you can’t see. Your first problem is hidden software—apps purchased by individual teams or employees without IT approval, otherwise known as shadow IT.

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Total app discovery: BetterCloud automatically finds all the software tools and services being used across your organization by integrating with your financial systems, Single Sign-On (SSO), and more. It pulls everything into a single, unified view.
Identify overlap: It clearly flags redundant applications (e.g., three different project management tools) so you can make data-driven decisions to consolidate and cut costs.
Real-time spending snapshot: Get an accurate breakdown of your total SaaS spending, categorized by application, department, and user. This makes budgeting and cost allocation much simpler than tracking complex spreadsheets.

2. Eliminate wasteful, unused licenses

One of the biggest drains on your software budget is paying for licenses that employees don’t use—often called “shelfware.”

Track actual usage: BetterCloud monitors login activity and feature usage across your integrated applications. You can instantly see who is actively using a license and who is not.
Automatic license reclamation: You can set up automated workflows to automatically deprovision (unassign) licenses from users who have been inactive for a set period (e.g., 60 days). This ensures you aren’t paying for “ghost users” or employees who left the company, and the reclaimed licenses can be immediately reallocated to someone who needs them.

3. Master software contract renewals

Missing a renewal date or going into a negotiation without the right data can cost you thousands. BetterCloud helps you approach renewals with confidence.

Centralized contract repository: It organizes and tracks all your software contracts in one place, providing automatic alerts for upcoming renewal and termination dates. You’ll never be surprised by an auto-renewal again.
Benchmark your negotiations: Access industry pricing benchmarks to understand if you are getting a fair deal. You can use your actual usage data—provided by BetterCloud—to negotiate better pricing tiers, commit to fewer licenses, and secure significant savings.
Factor in user feedback: Before renewing an expensive tool, you can send pulse surveys directly through BetterCloud to check employee satisfaction. If a tool isn’t liked or isn’t seen as critical, you have the data to decommission it and switch to a more effective, less costly solution.

By combining complete visibility, automated license management, and contract intelligence, BetterCloud helps IT admins ensure that every dollar spent on software is delivering real value, allowing you to cut wasted spend and operate a more efficient and cost-effective tech stack.

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