Application Portfolio Management: Reduce Risk and Right-Size SaaS Licenses

Application Portfolio Management: Reduce Risk and Right-Size SaaS Licenses

Software asset management tools can help you identify installed applications on corporate devices, but they don’t show the full picture. In a cloud-based solution driven organization with decentralized decision-making, SaaS management platforms are essential for comprehensive application portfolio management.

Uncover Shadow IT and Reduce Risk

Shadow IT is the use of unauthorized applications and cloud services without IT’s knowledge or approval. While employees often adopt these tools to work faster or collaborate better, the risks are significant:

• 40% of applications used in organizations are unknown to IT (Gartner® 2024 Magic Quadrant™ for SaaS Management Platforms)
• Increased exposure to data breaches, compliance violations, and access vulnerabilities
• No visibility leads to little to no governance, security, nor control

With a SaaS management platform, you can:

• Discover unknown or unauthorized SaaS tools to manage them fully
• Chart app usage in real-time across departments to right-size your application suite
• Identify security and SaaS risk management gaps quickly to prevent costly breaches

This transforms your approach from reactive to proactive—keeping your environment secure while enabling innovation.

Track Usage to Right-Size and Consolidate Licenses

Manual software license management or traditional license management software can’t keep up with the speed of SaaS growth. Without insights into how organizations actually use licenses, they will inevitably overspend. Tracking SaaS application usage is essential for identifying underutilized tools, eliminating waste, and consolidating overlapping services. With clear usage data, IT leaders can right-size licenses, renegotiate contracts, and ensure every subscription delivers value—ultimately optimizing spend and driving smarter software license management across the organization.

Blaze towards right-sizing and savings with software license management, with the ability to:

• Eliminate shelfware—licenses that go unused
• Consolidate redundant apps across teams
• Right-size SaaS contracts based on real usage data
• Negotiate better terms with vendors

Disrupt the visibility gap in license management:

• Automated software license tracking
• Usage heatmaps by role, team, or location
• Alerts for underutilized or duplicate subscriptions

Forge Accountability with Chargeback

Multiple departments often spread SaaS costs, which makes it hard to pinpoint responsibility or optimize spending. Implementing SaaS chargeback capabilities promotes accountability by linking software costs directly to the departments that use them. This visibility into spend empowers teams to make informed decisions, reduces unnecessary expenses, and transforms IT from a cost center into a strategic partner driving responsible, transparent SaaS license and budget management.

With chargeback capabilities, you can:

• Attribute SaaS costs to specific departments
• Create transparency around usage and value
• Empower teams to manage their own software budgets

Accountability drives mindful tracking and fosters a culture of ownership in managing software licenses.

Why SaaS Management Can’t Wait

SaaS growth is becoming more apparent and aggressive within organizations. Without centralized control, your organization is exposed to:

• Escalating risk from shadow IT
• Wasted spend on unused tools
• Fragmented and inefficient software asset management

Application portfolio management through a SaaS management platform helps you:

• Control risk with better visibility
• Streamline software license management
• Make data-driven decisions on SaaS spend
• Align IT with business goals

SaaS management platforms are essential for comprehensive application portfolio management that empowers users to allocate charges, drive compliance, and right-size SaaS estates. Evolve from tracking installed applications to managing actual usage. A smarter, safer, and more cost-effective SaaS strategy starts with visibility—and ends with control.