Why SaaS Subscription Management is Important

SaaS tools help streamline your business’s operations. Instead of developing internal tools to help run your business, many pay for ready-made software which they adapt and integrate into the workplace. From Slack to Zendesk, these software products quickly become a vital component in your business’s day-to-day affairs. It has never been more important to keep track of and protect your SaaS subscriptions.

Many businesses are unknowingly losing revenue every month by overlooking the thousands of dollars they spend on SaaS payments. As your team incorporates more software as a service (SaaS) into the workplace, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the subscriptions, putting your business operations at risk. This is exactly what Subscription Management tools meant to solve.

What is SaaS Subscription Management? 

SaaS management is the business practice of obtaining full visibility and control over all the software within a companies portfolio. From indicating how much you pay, to when the subscription is set to expire, SaaS management helps ensure and secure subscription payments, preventing you from losing valuable software subscriptions that could disrupt your business’s operations.

The majority of SaaS subscriptions are billed annually (but they can be monthly too!). Depending on the software, the subscriptions will either be per-user or a single fee that covers the entire organization. When an employee leaves the company, it may be vital to remove the software as quickly as possible due to it containing sensitive information. With all these different factors potentially hindering the business environment, SaaS management is hastily developing into a priority for IT and business leaders. 

Ultimately, SaaS management seeks to reduce the risk associated with unmanaged tools and technology, get the most value out of the purchased software, and heighten the effectiveness of the employees who have access to the SaaS applications.

How your business can benefit from SaaS subscription management

Renewal Management 

A centralized management platform with an overview of all your SaaS subscriptions provides one major benefit – the benefit to automatically renew or cancel your subscriptions.

Many SaaS platforms will either bill you monthly or annually for your subscription with them.

Unfortunately, without a managed subscription, you may either forget to cancel a subscription causing your business to incur unnecessary costs, or even worse you could lose your subscription if you fail to pay on time. 

This major disruption can easily be averted with the use of Mesh Payment’s dedicated virtual subscription cards. The cards allow you the freedom to control all aspects of your SaaS subscriptions. With Mesh, you are able to:

• Create one card per subscription to easily identify and manage each of your SaaS applications
• Set a transaction limit, to ensure you’re never overcharged.
• Place a subscription frequency to guarantee you never miss a payment 
• Gain full control over the outcome of your subscription. Instantly declining, or receiving a notification that alerts you of an overcharge allows you to stay in control of your recurring SaaS subscriptions. 
• Cancel at any time! With one simple click of a button, you can cancel your subscription with your SaaS vendor without the hassle of forms or customer support.

SaaS License Management

Heads of teams throughout the business are heavily specialized in their roles, however, many lack the knowledge when it comes to IT management. Under-utilized or unused licenses are among the top concerns for license mismanagement, especially as a security threat. If a former employee is not successfully offboarded from a software, they may still have access to sensitive company information that can have far-reaching consequences. 

Additionally, if the subscription is not actively managed, an unused license may automatically renew if not canceled. This leaves the businesses with an unnecessary and easily avoidable cost. Optimizing SaaS licenses safeguards the organization’s need for software with the purpose it is intended for. 

Risk and Compliance

Having all your SaaS subscriptions visible in one management software platform will reinforce security. The increasing use of SaaS applications has led to greater data breaches and cybersecurity threats. 

Across the globe, it is estimated that the average data breach subjects a company to around $4 million in mitigation costs, with that figure doubling when focusing specifically on the US market. Your company and your customer’s data will in time be stored on the SaaS platforms.

By having increased visibility over which applications you are using, and having the ability to cancel them within a moment’s notice is a vital step in securing your data. 

Value

A management platform that will display an overview of all your SaaS applications can offer insights into your usage and expenditure for such platforms. These parameters can be used as a decision-making tool to make sure your company is fully utilizing the services you are billed for. 

By analyzing the behavior of your SaaS subscriptions, you will be able to find patterns that can lead your business to more efficient and cost-effective operations.

What you should look for when searching for a SaaS subscription management provider

The market has plenty to offer, but there are some pretty standard criterion which every business should keep an eye open for when searching for a provider to help assist their SaaS subscriptions;

• All your subscription renewal dates  
• Per application spending 
• Which team member is managing the subscription
• The total sum of SaaS subscriptions
• Which team member is responsible for managing the subscription

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Sarah Murphy

Sarah is a Content Manager for Mesh Payments. Before working in marketing, she completed her Master of Journalism degree at Toronto Metropolitan University (f.k.a. Ryerson University) and worked as an arts journalist in Toronto. She was a content writer for tech companies in the retail and workforce management sectors before joining Mesh in 2022.