SaaS Portfolio Rationalization for a Media & Entertainment Enterprise
(How Aatxe reduced SaaS spend by 35% and established cloud governance)
Context:
A fast-scaling media enterprise had embraced SaaS without limits — Zoom, Slack, Salesforce, Canva, Trello, and over a dozen other tools were purchased independently by teams. No central tracking existed, and auto-renewals were draining budgets monthly. The CFO reached out to Aatxe Analytics to introduce structure and financial discipline into their SaaS sprawl.
Challenge:
- Over 20 SaaS applications purchased directly by departments.
- Duplicate subscriptions across overlapping vendors.
- No unified billing or renewal tracking.
- Unused accounts still charging corporate cards.
- Procurement and IT lacked visibility into who owned which contracts.
- Shadow IT creating compliance and data exposure risks.
Aatxe Analytics Approach:
- Built a consolidated SaaS inventory combining finance, identity, and ITSM data.
- Analyzed usage data via vendor APIs and login frequency metrics.
- Identified redundant applications with overlapping functionality.
- Consolidated subscriptions under enterprise agreements with single billing.
- Introduced SaaS approval workflows integrated into procurement systems.
- Developed spend dashboards highlighting cost per user and renewal timelines.
- Established ownership accountability by department for each SaaS tool.
- Recommended auto-suspension of inactive accounts after 30 days of inactivity.
Results & Impact:
- SaaS spend reduced by 35% within a single quarter.
- Eliminated 14 redundant SaaS tools across teams.
- Finance gained real-time visibility into subscription costs.
- Procurement regained control over renewals and contract management.
- Departmental ownership created a culture of accountability for software usage.
Closing Reflection:
This wasn’t a cost-cutting exercise — it was governance in action. The client now treats SaaS the way they treat infrastructure: planned, measured, and managed.