Simply James

• Confusion
• Cost
• Billing
• Increased Complexity
• Redundancy

Software subscriptions are critical for any fast-growing company. As the world of finance and ecommerce develops and becomes increasingly web-oriented, companies are having to put their faith in subscription-based software. As of 2016, the number of companies that relied solely on subscription-based software was 38%, rising to 58% by 2019, and the number is predicted to reach 83% by next year (Schoettle, 2019). If you want your business to grow, then cloud-based software applications are the only way to go.

Yet, handling these subscriptions can be tricky. Creeping costs, understanding the use of each tool, and managing how effective each application is for your business can be overwhelming. Here are the top 5 signs that you have lost control of your business’ software subscriptions;

1. Confusion: Each department of your company will require different tools, and not everyone will understand the importance of each one. If there is an overlap between old processes and new systems, it can be difficult integrate the new software, and this is a challenge that comes with the process of integrating software.
2. Cost: Recurring billing is a problem that businesses constantly encounter. Are you keeping tabs on all the subscription bills your business is paying? Are the costs creeping up, but you can’t keep track of return on investment for each application? This is a big red flag in the world of SaaS.
3. Billing: It happens frequently that the department controlling the subscription billing is a separate to the department using the SaaS application. Recurring billing means that unused applications may not be cancelled, and service upgrades can change to a more expensive plan without notice (Holdaway, 2020). It can get messy so easily, which is why SaaS management is critical.
4. Increased Complexity: Technology is beginning to answer all our needs. Even a businesses smallest needs can be answered through purchasing an application or software. It can be easy for a company to over-invest in SaaS, and starting to plug holes in operations by throwing money at different software packages can prove extremely costly.
5. Redundancy: With every software application, they have a speciality to separate them from their competitors. You may prefer a partial feature of one service, but reject the other included features in favour of another service entirely. If you have been met with this type of software chaos, it could be finally time to grab the bull by the horns and invest in SaaS management.

Many start-ups forget about the monthly or yearly subscription costs and push them to one side as they are seen as ‘essential’. Unknowingly, this is costing the business thousands of dollars that is billed into an unused or under optimised application. Add to this the stresses of integrating the software, security, and providing access to the application – SaaS management makes your life so much easier.

References

Holdaway, D. (2020). ‘How to Keep Track of and Manage SaaS Subscriptions’. Get Divvy. https://getdivvy.com/blog/how-to-manage-saas-subscriptions/ . Accessed on 01/03/2022.

Schoettle, A. (2019). ‘Companies Fret as Costs Soar for Software Subscriptions’. Indianapolis Business Journal. https://www.ibj.com/articles/73599-companies-fret-as-costs-soar-for-software-subscriptions. Accessed on 01/03/2022.