Renewal management optimization for SaaS companies

Maximizing ROI for your software spend hinges on strategic and timely SaaS renewal management.

It's not just about tracking expiration dates — understanding changing business needs and switching to better alternatives while incorporating all stakeholder perspectives are equally important.

However, proactive renewal management isn't easy and requires additional hours and manpower unless you have a platform that takes care of it for you. 

In this blog, you'll learn best practices to streamline renewal management so you can get the most out of your SaaS stack and spend. We also explore how Vendr can save you time and money by storing, tracking, and managing SaaS renewals in one place.

AI tool creators, Deepgram, saved $366K by using Vendr in their negotiations. 

Ready to see how you can save time and money in your renewal management? 

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What is renewal management?

Renewal management keeps track of all your contract end dates and prepares you for timely renewals to avoid any service interruptions and unnecessary costs.

This means that before your contract ends with a service provider, you can review your updated needs and explore options to get a better deal with either your existing supplier or a more suitable one.

While doing this for one or two suppliers is manageable, when you’re a business working with multiple SaaS subscriptions, licenses, and other recurring agreements software, it gets tricky. 

Having a clear and efficient SaaS renewal management system helps you understand your current needs and saves you time and money by preventing unwanted auto-renewals. It also helps you score better contract terms with early reviews and negotiations​. 

Challenges in renewal management

Managing renewals can be difficult due to complex contracts, multiple renewal dates, and lack of centralized information. For instance:

• Unclear or overly complex contract language makes it hard to fully understand the agreement, including important renewal dates and specific obligations.
• Failing to track expiration dates leads to service interruptions, increased renewal costs, and legal or operational disruptions. Rushing the renewal process also causes oversights and potential liabilities.
• Not having a centralized system makes it difficult to quickly find the contract details you need to match them with all stakeholder requirements. 

These inefficiencies can lead to higher costs and administrative burdens on your organization and may even strain relationships with your suppliers. 

Overcome all these challenges by using Vendr’s procurement automation which provides a single source of truth for supplier and contract data, ensuring easy access and management. 

Best practices for optimizing renewals

Sidestep common renewal management pitfalls with these top four recommendations from Vendr.

1. Regularly review contract terms

Staying updated on contract terms helps you be proactive about your contractual agreements, identify opportunities for renegotiating better terms, and eliminate or adjust services that are no longer needed.

This requires having all relevant documents, like previous contract versions, financial statements, and communication records, in one accessible location so you see the complete picture. 

Rely on Vendr Contracts to store, track, and manage all your agreements in one place. This simplifies the SaaS agreement review process and helps ensure all stakeholders are taken into account.

Eric Zhou, CAO at Brex, attests to Vendr's effectiveness, stating,

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While going through all contracts is absolutely crucial, it’s time-consuming and prone to error. 

Vendr’s contract analysis solves this for you by performing bulk analyses. It provides a comprehensive overview of tools with high churn rates, so you can consolidate features and benefit from pricing adjustments. 

2. Engage suppliers early

To get better deals, start planning early. 

This requires assessing market conditions, comparing different suppliers, going over your contract details, and talking to vendors well ahead of time. 

Vendr recommends starting discussions 90-120 days in advance.

To make sure you’ve checked all the necessary boxes for efficient negotiations, follow this protocol:

• Stay updated on any new features, products, or changes in the supplier's offerings to make a more informed decision.
• If you're happy with the service, consider negotiating a longer-term commitment for better pricing or contract terms. 
• Consider scalability options like adding more licenses, expanding features, or increasing support to accommodate business growth. Discuss these with your supplier to ensure they can meet your evolving needs.

With Vendr, you can set up automated renewal reminders to start discussions well before contracts expire.

Vendr also gives you pricing benchmarks and supplier-specific insights to better understand your suppliers' market positions and negotiate better renewal rates.

3. Leverage technology for renewal management

Automating renewal processes speeds up operations, reduces administrative burdens, and helps maintain control over your contracts and expenditures, so you don’t miss anything. 

Automation includes:

• Scheduling notifications
• Streamlining communications
• Centralizing data
• Customizing reporting tools
• Monitoring specific metrics for better decision-making

Vendr takes this a step further by providing a centralized procurement automation system that provides real-time analytics and a comprehensive view of contracts for sharper decisions. 

4. Understand your supplier’s priorities

Knowing what your supplier prefers can help you negotiate better deals. 

SaaS suppliers prioritize metrics like customer engagement and customer experience to enhance retention and maximize Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

Review your usage data to evidence high engagement and create detailed reports on key feature use. Highlight how renewing your contract supports their long-term financial goals.

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How Vendr helps with renewal management

Vendr simplifies your renewal management process with three direct tactics so you get a complete overview of all contracts and opportunities to optimize resource allocation.

Gain visibility into spend and renewals

The Vendr dashboard consolidates contract details, renewal timelines, and financial data, offering you a clear view of all expenses and upcoming renewals. 

This makes it easier for you to monitor everything from one central location. 

Additionally, visibility into your tech stack helps get rid of duplicate tools and optimize software usage. 

Certn, for instance, built a renewal calendar and centralized contract data using Vendr, which improved their renewal strategy and saved over $366,000 on SaaS spend.

Taylor Martin, Director of Operations at Certn describes Vendr as an extension to their procurement team. “It’s a straightforward solution to visualize our SaaS spend,” he says.

Stay ahead of software renewals

With Vendr, you can be confident that you’re not just on time but ahead of schedule. 

Vendr’s automated calendars and reminders track each renewal, so nothing falls through the cracks.

Reminders are sent out 120 days before they're due so you can thoroughly review all necessary details and make well-informed decisions without the pressure of impending deadlines.

This proactive approach gives you complete control over your software licenses and optimizes your SaaS expenditures by preventing last-minute, often costly, renewals.

Eliminates wasted spend

Maintaining control over contract renewals and avoiding common pitfalls helps optimize SaaS spending by allowing you to select only the services you need. 

Understanding your contracts and finances helps you plan renewals on time and quickly see how your costs compare to market prices.

Use Vendr’s Buyer Guides for an in-depth market analysis and strategic insights on negotiating with SaaS suppliers.

Complement these with SKU-level pricing benchmarks to get detailed pricing data for specific software products to see exactly how they impact your profitability. 

Using Vendr's expert guides and negotiation support, Luno saved over $200,000 in the first year and $1.8 million over two years. 

The team now relies on specialty buying experts from Vendr for deal support and takes advantage of Vendr pricing data for large deals processed internally.

Maximize renewal management ROI with Vendr 

Efficient renewal management helps maximize your ROI on software investments. 

But the process is time-consuming, complex, and difficult to manage manually. It demands expertise to make insightful decisions that boost your bottom line.

Vendr simplifies it all for you.

• Automates tracking: Vendr automates the monitoring of contract expiration dates and sends you alerts three months in advance so you can prepare and avoid lapses in service.
• Optimizes your tech stack: Vendr Contracts organize and analyze your SaaS stack, effectively identifying overlaps and redundancies to help you reduce procurement costs.
• Provides visibility into each contract: Vendr centralizes contract information, providing insights into software usage and utility to guide you on renewals, upgrades, or cancellations. 
• Automates procurement: Vendr’s customizable workflows help you adapt to changing business needs and take a tactical approach to contract renewals. 

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