Revolutionize Your SaaS Management: Ditching Spreadsheets for Smart Automation

Running a tech company means juggling a bunch of SaaS tools. Today, mid-sized companies use on average 212 software tools. Even smaller companies often use dozens and dozens of different apps. But how do you keep track of them all? Some rely on clunky spreadsheets or Notion pages, but there's a better way to finally get visibility on your software stack and automate the management of all the apps. In this post, we'll explore why automated solutions like the Corma tool beats manual tracking and how we can supercharge your software licence and access management. For that different departments between IT, Operations, Finance and maybe even HR need to work together.

_{The Spreadsheet Struggles:}

Using spreadsheets to track your SaaS stack might work at first, but as your company and tool collection grows, so do the headaches. Here's why spreadsheets fall short:

• Oops! Human Error: Mistakes happen when you're manually inputting data, leading to misinformation and bad decisions.
• Communication Chaos: Every tried to plan a trip with more than 3 people? Good luck maintaining a spreadsheet with lots of people across departments. You have been warned!
• Time Sink: Updating spreadsheets steals precious time from your team, distracting them from important work. And let's face it, it is an incredibly boring and repetitive job. Whoever is doing it at your company, invite them for lunch and bring flowers to thank them for keeping up with this thankless task - or better, get an automated solution!
• Stuck in the Past: Spreadsheets can't keep up with real-time changes in licenses, subscriptions, user access, and actual usage. Give it a month and your sheet will have little to do with reality.
• Reporting Woes: Generating meaningful reports from spreadsheets is a pain, making it tough to optimize your SaaS stack.

^Example

One of our clients used spreadsheets for years to track the company’s SaaS stack. But as the company grew it was difficult to stay ahead of the fast changes. He resorted to the “pray and hope” method, turning a blind eye to his SaaS stack. It eventually caught up to him and the recurring charges were a large cause of concern. We identified almost double the amount of services he assumed his company used and was able to relieve this massive headache in just a few weeks. In total we have discovered 185 software apps for a company of just 250 people. Imagine managing that number of apps per hand!

^{The Magic of Automation:}

Automated solutions swoop in to save literal days, revolutionizing your SaaS stack management like superheroes:

• Centralized Bliss: Say goodbye to scattered info. Automation creates a single source of truth for all your tools, from descriptions to costs and existing similar tools.
• Real-time Updates: With automation, your data stays fresh, capturing every license change, subscription update, and usage per tool in real-time.
• Efficiency! Ditching manual entry frees up your team's time, so they can focus on what they do best.
• Smooth Workflows: Automation identifies all your tools, reducing manual steps, eliminates redundant services, and boosts collaboration across the board.
• Supercharged Insights: Advanced reporting and analytics give you the power to optimize tool usage, trim costs, and spot overlaps or redundancies.
• No human error: the hard truth is that computers outperform as at many tasks. For this one we should not feel bad about it and rather enjoy the better results (and newly won the free time!)

^{Must-Have Features for Automation:}

When picking an automated solution, keep an eye out for these game-changing features:

• Tailor-Made Flexibility: Look for customization options that fit your unique needs, from user roles to data fields.
• Built to Scale: As your SaaS stack grows, you need a solution that can handle it without breaking a sweat.
• Safety First: Prioritize solutions that prioritize security, privacy, and compliance with regulations to keep your data safe.

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There are many solutions out there that cover part of the topics well and can help you get a long way on that topic. Corma was build as a comprehensive solution for all your needs to automate your licence management in 2024. Corma is here to automate and help you cut cost around software.