The scene that is currently happening in your company

Imagine you are spending 10,000 Swiss Francs on software every month. Of that, 3,000 Francs directly end up in the trash.

Not because someone is cheating you. Not because the teams are careless. But because the SaaS ecosystem is inherently chaotic.

The best part? Most companies treat this 30% like normal operating costs. "It happens everywhere," they say.

(Yes. But it doesn't have to.)

Why SaaS gets out of control

The problem starts here: SaaS is incredibly cheap to acquire.

Every tool costs between 10 and 500 Francs monthly. For the individual manager, it is practically free. "Let me quickly get Zapier." "The project management tool costs only 25 Francs per person."

Individually, these are small amounts. Accumulatively, it turns into a catastrophe.

The average medium-sized business uses between 50 and 150 different SaaS tools. Each tool has a different billing cycle, a different cancellation period, a different admin.

And then there are decentralized decisions: Marketing buys a design tool. Finance activates a reporting feature. Sales closes on an add-on. No one has the complete overview.

The result: 30% waste effortlessly.

The seven waste patterns

1. Ghost Users

An employee leaves the company. The license is not canceled. It just continues.

Multiply this with your annual turnover - 15-20% of all licenses are typically inactive.

What you can do: Monthly check all active users. Exit process: When someone resigns, immediately check all licenses.

2. Wrong Tiers

You have the right license but the wrong plan.

Every SaaS tool has different levels. Basic for 29 Francs. Pro for 79 Francs. Enterprise for even more. Most choose the "safe option" - the most expensive plan.

The problem: 40% of users in higher tiers use less than 20% of the features.

What you can do: Quarterly go through each tool owner: "Which features are we really using?" Not all users need Premium.

3. Duplicate Tools

You have Tool A. You need Function B. Tool C also offers Function B. So you buy Tool C.

The result: You pay twice for the same functionality.

Two different project management tools. Multiple analytics platforms. Different CRM solutions in different departments.

What you can do: Functional audit: "What can we do with Tool A?" Establish one as Primary, shut down the other.

4. Auto-Renewals without Review

You bought a tool two years ago. The bill comes automatically. No one asks anymore if you are using it.

This is one of the biggest waste patterns. It is automated. It is invisible. It becomes a habit.

One company had a stock photo tool for 200 Francs monthly, which was unused for months. Four years long.

What you can do: List all subscriptions with automatic renewals. Maintain a cancellation calendar. Quarterly Review: Usage vs. Costs.

5. No Usage-Tracking

You don't know who is using what.

You have 100 licenses for a tool. But who is really using it? Most SaaS providers do not give you this data voluntarily.

What you can do: Activate analytics. Monthly: Check "Top 20 inactive users." Set notifications when users are inactive for 30 days.

6. Shadow IT

Your teams use tools you don't know.

The developer has his code tool. The designers use another design tool. Finance has bought a budget tool that IT is unaware of.

A company with 500 employees could use 100+ SaaS tools - of which IT knows only 50.

What you can do: "Which SaaS subscriptions are running via your credit card?" Establish an approval process for new tools.

7. Poor Negotiations

Here’s the dirty secret: Almost everything is negotiable.

Most companies pay the standard price because they don’t negotiate. 30-40% discounts are possible with most SaaS tools. Multi-year agreements bring 20-35% savings.

What you can do: Every tool over 10,000 Francs must be negotiated. A threat to cancel is a negotiation tool: "We are looking at alternatives."

The pattern behind

If you look at the seven points, you see a pattern: The problem is not money. It's visibility.

No one has the overview. No one knows what is being used. No one negotiates. No one checks.

The waste doesn’t happen out of malice. It happens because it is no one's job to pay attention.

The conclusion

30% SaaS waste is normal – but not inevitable.

Most of it is a lack of visibility and control, not malice. If you know what you are paying for and what for, you can optimize.

The companies that have their SaaS costs under control are not those with the fewest tools. They are the ones who know what tools they have.

It sounds trivial. It is. But it makes the difference between 30% waste and 30% savings.

Do you want to know where your SaaS waste lies? We do audits for Swiss companies – and typically find 25-35% savings potential. Talk to us.