How to Proactively Manage SaaS Renewals

Whatever business you’re in, managing SaaS contracts proactively is important for your bottom line. This means dealing with SaaS renewals ahead of time before you're billed.

So, what should you consider before renewing a SaaS contract? We’ve put together a four-step guide to help you get on top of your SaaS renewals.

1. Make an accurate SaaS inventory

To create an effective SaaS renewal strategy, you’ll need an accurate list of every SaaS tool your organisation uses. Don’t forget apps that individual teams or staff members may have purchased.

The objective here is to come to grips with your organisation’s current SaaS investment. This is also the first step towards uncovering opportunities to enhance or reclaim value from SaaS subscriptions that are obsolete, underutilised or unused.

Getting a complete picture of all SaaS contracts can be arduous work. That’s why many companies turn to SaaS management platforms such as Hudled.

2. Know when your renewal windows are coming

Once you have an accurate inventory of your SaaS subscriptions, you can start checking the renewal windows. Begin by reading the contracts or invoices to find the renewal dates. Next, get in touch with each and every account rep for your various SaaS applications to confirm you have identified the renewal windows correctly.

Bear in mind that some contracts have an auto-renewal clause. Some state that you must notify the software vendor by a certain date if you don’t want the contract to auto-renew.?Auto-renewal clauses usually come into effect either during the renewal period or when it ends. You should always double-check the terms of the auto-renewal clause with the account rep for the software.

3. Evaluate your SaaS tools

Now that you know what SaaS tools you have and when the renewal windows are, you can evaluate the software. Ideally, start chronologically with the soonest renewal first.

Ask the users of the SaaS tools for their insight. Is their experience with the software good or bad? Would they like to change anything about it? How could the software be better? Also, find out who negotiated the contract and whether they were satisfied with the outcome.

Dig deeper by examining usage patterns of your SaaS. You can get this information from reports, expense records and app dashboards. You may find that your organisation underutilises its software. Alternatively, users may be exceeding usage limits and racking up overage charges. Compare the number of licenses against the number of users. Having accurate information about usage will give you more leverage during the renewal process.

4. Control your SaaS costs

At this point, you can begin making significant SaaS cost savings for your organisation. You’ll be equipped to right-size your SaaS contracts, consolidate certain applications and get rid of unused or underutilised software. Above all, you can start negotiating SaaS renewals under more cost-effective terms.

Consider getting visibility on your SaaS renewals with Hudled

As your company scales, keeping track of SaaS renewals will become more and more challenging. Investing in a quality SaaS management platform will save you time, money and give you back control.

Hudled’s advanced dashboard gives you greater visibility of all renewals in your software stack. Sign up for Hudled’s free 14-day trial to discover how your organisation could soon be on its way to having a proactive SaaS renewals strategy.