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Mastering SaaS Costs

The Context​

Sophie is the financial director at MediaPlus, an agency with 60 employees. While preparing the annual budget, she realizes that SaaS subscriptions have increased by 40% in one year. She wants to know exactly how much each tool costs, who uses it, and where possible savings can be made.

  • SaaS invoices are spread across multiple services and credit cards
  • No one knows how many licenses are actually being used
  • Departed employees still have active (and billed) accounts
  • Each team leader subscribes to tools without global visibility

Result: thousands of euros spent each month on unused or redundant licenses.

Step 1 — Centralize Information​

Sophie accesses the cost dashboard in SmartLink. All referenced applications are listed there with their cost per license and the number of assigned users.

Step 2 — Identify Savings​

The dashboard reveals that:

  • 8 Figma licenses are assigned, but only 3 people use it regularly
  • 2 different video conferencing tools are used for the same purpose
  • 4 accounts are still active for employees who have left the company

Step 3 — Take Action​

Sophie deactivates unused accounts, reduces the number of Figma licenses, and consolidates video conferencing tools into a single solution. All with just a few clicks in SmartLink.

Step 4 — Track Over Time​

Every month, Sophie checks the dashboard to monitor cost trends and ensure that no drift occurs again.

Impact​

Without SmartLinkWith SmartLink
Scattered and opaque invoicesCentralized view of costs per application
Undetected ghost licensesIdentification of unused licenses
Approximate SaaS budgetPrecise and historical expense tracking
No optimization possibleConcrete savings recommendations

Features Used​