Optimize SaaS costs

Learn how to optimize your SaaS subscription costs in SaaS.

SaaS discovery is about finding what you have; to get visibility of applications, subscriptions, and users in your SaaS estate. SaaS cost optimization is about right-sizing your SaaS subscriptions to get the most value out of what you pay for.

For information on single user cost optimization, see Optimize user costs.​

Prerequisites

Information in SaaS is based on discovery, data consolidation, and information that you add. To be able to optimize your SaaS subscription costs, you must fulfill some prerequisites:

• Collect information about your SaaS estate through discovery sources. For more information, see Get started with SaaS and SaaS discovery.

• Collect user activity for SaaS applications; it is crucial for understanding your SaaS usage. Microsoft 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud also require activity collection from devices for the subscriptions to be optimized. For more information, see ​User activity​​.

• Add billing information your SaaS subscriptions. Without cost, quantity, and duration, optimization metrics cannot be generated. For more information, see Edit subscriptions.

If you have subscriptions in your SaaS estate that cannot be discovered through a connector, you can add them manually. For more information, see ​Manage SaaS subscriptions​.

Find your total SaaS spend

Find your total spend on SaaS subscriptions.

1. Go to Subscriptions and then to Subscriptions cost.

2. View the indicator Total cost for the cost of all your subscriptions for the current month.

3. Select the indicator to filter the Subscriptions cost chart.

   The chart shows a breakdown of historic data for the indicator.

4. In the table, view the columns Monthly cost and Total cost for the subscription cost per month and for the whole duration, respectively.

Find your largest potential savings

Find your largest potential savings on SaaS subscriptions.

1. Go to Subscriptions and then to Subscriptions cost.

2. View the indicator Potential savings for the total potential savings for the current month.

3. View the indicators Inactive, No activity, and Unassigned to find where the largest potential savings are for the current month.

4. Select View details on an indicator to filter the Subscriptions cost chart and the table.

   The chart shows a breakdown of historic data for the indicator. The table shows the relevant subscriptions and their detailed cost metrics based on the indicator.

5. In the table, view the column Monthly potential savings for the subscriptions that have the largest potential savings, and focus on those.

6. Select the subscription with the largest potential savings, and on the Insights tab, view the indicators and the insights for optimization opportunities.

Repeat this procedure for all subscriptions where you have potential savings.

Find unassigned subscriptions

Find your unassigned SaaS subscriptions and the utilization rate, to realize the full value of your purchased subscriptions.

1. Go to Subscriptions.

2. View the indicator Unassigned for the total amount of unassigned subscriptions.

3. Select View details on the indicator to filter the Subscriptions usage chart and the table.

   The chart shows a breakdown of historic data for the indicator. The table shows the relevant subscriptions and their detailed usage metrics based on the indicator.

4. In the table, view the columns Unassigned and Utilization (%) for the number of unassigned subscriptions and the rate compared to your total purchased quantity.

5. In the respective vendor portals, cancel or assign subscriptions to users.

Find your costs for subscriptions with inactive users

Find your costs for SaaS subscriptions where assigned users are inactive or have no activity, to leverage these optimization opportunities and make cost savings.

1. Go to Subscriptions and then to Subscriptions cost.

2. View the indicators Inactive and No activity for the potential savings for the current month on subscriptions for which assigned users are inactive or have no activity.

3. Select a subscription in the table, and on the Insights tab, view the insights for optimization opportunities due to inactive users.

4. In the vendor portal, cancel or reassign subscriptions.

Repeat this procedure for all subscriptions with inactive users.

Find unused subscriptions that can be reassigned

Find reharvesting opportunities by finding subscriptions where assigned users are inactive or have no activity and reassign the subscriptions to users that need them.

1. Go to Subscriptions.

2. View the indicators Inactive and No activity for the number of subscriptions for which assigned users are inactive or have no activity.

3. Select View details on an indicator to filter the Subscriptions usage chart and the table.

   The chart shows a breakdown of historic data for the indicator. The table shows the relevant subscriptions and their detailed usage metrics based on the indicator.

4. Select a subscription in the table, and on the Insights tab, view the insights and the table to find users that are not using their subscription.

5. Cancel or reassign subscriptions to other users.

Repeat this procedure for all subscriptions that have rehaversting opportunities.

Find upcoming renewals

Find all expiring SaaS subscriptions to prepare for your renewals.

1. Go to Home.

2. In the Subscriptions section, view the Top 5 upcoming renewal term costs by vendor chart.

3. Select View more.

   The Subscriptions cost page appears, showing all your upcoming renewals in the next 6 months.

4. Start negotiating your renewals with respective vendors.

tip

In Home, you can also view the indicator for subscriptions expiring in the next 60 days, and select View more to view them in a list.

Find subscriptions for which user activity is not monitored

Find subscriptions for which user activity in the respective applications is not monitored and learn how to improve discovery and visibility of your SaaS estate.

1. Go to Subscriptions.

2. View the indicator Not monitored for the amount of subscriptions for which user activity in the respective applications cannot be monitored.

3. Select View details on the indicator to filter the Subscriptions usage chart and the table.

   The chart shows a breakdown of historic data for the indicator. The table shows the relevant subscriptions and their detailed usage metrics based on the indicator.

4. In the table, sort the Not monitored column for the most important subscriptions for which user activity in the related applications cannot be monitored.

5. Add SaaS connectors or other discovery sources to collect user activity for the applications.

   Microsoft 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud hybrid applications may require extra discovery sources to also collect user activity from applications installed on devices. For more information, see SaaS discovery and ​User activity.

6. If you have the required discovery sources, but still see data in the Not monitored column, contact Flexera Support for further guidance.

Family cost optimization

View your subscriptions on product family level to find optimization opportunities across all related subscriptions for services from the same vendor.

1. Go to Subscriptions.

2. In the table, in the Family column, select the family link.

3. Use the information on the tab Insights to find cost optimization opportunities across the family.

Exclude irrelevant subscriptions from aggregated metrics

• To exclude paid subscriptions from total calculations of usage and cost metrics, select Exclude from metrics in the Edit modal. For more information, see Edit subscriptions​.

  Free subscriptions are automatically excluded from total calculations of usage and cost metrics.