As leaders within procurement have found out only too well over the past few years, disruption is an almost daily occurrence. With SaaS inflation pushing your software costs up by 11.3% compared to 12 months ago – for exactly the same contract – and SaaS spend per employee per annum reaching an all time high of $9,100, the majority of procurement leaders are stuck in a never ending cycle of dealing with rising costs out of their control whilst simultaneously trying to be cost efficient and optimise their tech stack.
Guarding against this requires a SaaS procurement setup that is robust, adaptable, and strategic. One that can secure services that comfortably accommodate both today’s ambitions, and future growth plans.
To achieve this, companies need full visibility over their entire SaaS procurement processes, from renewal dates, contract terms and usage analytics to pricing benchmarks, peer comparisons and negotiation playbooks. And all the while, they need to be able to see, manage and optimise every procurement process in finite detail. Enter Vertice.
It’s a view that many teams don’t have, can’t get or in some cases don’t even see the value in it. But not having it allows known costs to skyrocket, unknown spending to balloon and procuring new software becomes the Wild West. In the end, you’re stuck with a bloated tech stack full of ineffectual tools on long, costly contracts, and no idea how to control it all. This isn’t enabling the business to grow, it’s actively preventing it.
In an exclusive article with CPOstrategy, Nick Riley, Head of Procurement, EMEA, Jordan Tang, Director of Procurement, APAC, and Michael Keller, Director of Procurement, US, at Vertice explain why procurement visibility is the key to unlocking this, and the disadvantages and real costs to those that don’t provide it.
Why is visibility such an important factor in optimising SaaS procurement for organisations today?
Nick Riley: “You can’t negotiate in the dark. Visibility into your tech stack, how it’s used, and how its cost and make-up compares with similar businesses transforms procurement from reactive firefighting into a strategic function that delivers real business value. Without it, you’re just hoping for generosity and good deals instead of making them happen.”
Michael Keller: “Totally agree. And as you alluded to, visibility comes in two parts – understanding your own environment and also understanding it in the context of the wider SaaS landscape. Having both lays the foundation for not only optimising usage and eliminating waste, but also for getting the right price. You can’t optimise what you can’t see.”
Jordan Tang: “Here’s an example: imagine having total clarity on the proportion of licences you bought in the last contract term that were actually used, then applying that knowledge to the current renewal request, and also having up-to-date intel on the best negotiation strategies and levers to pull with that vendor. That’s the sort of visibility that most procurement teams can only dream of.”
You mention cost savings, but how does a lack of visibility lead to missed opportunities ?
Nick Riley: “It’s amazing how little understanding some businesses have of their SaaS stack. But what you don’t track, you risk overpaying for. Poor visibility means duplicate tools, bloated licences, and auto-renewals slipping through unnoticed. A single blind spot can cost six figures—scale that across an entire SaaS stack, and the waste is staggering. Our data shows that on average as much as 45.7% of SaaS applications are either underutilised or totally unused. With an average SaaS spend per employee per year at $8.9k, this means $4,094 per employee per year is ‘wasted spend’. That’s a lot of waste!”
Jordan Tang: “SaaS visibility is not just about licences and waste though. It’s also a route to identifying unapproved spend and shadow IT, which isn’t just a cost issue but also a compliance risk.”
Michael Keller: “And don’t forget overlapping products. When you get totally to grips with your SaaS stack, you inevitably find that you have more than one vendor serving the same purpose. Usually this is because of rogue spend, but not always. Often, vendors have developed and expanded their products to increase their value to their customers, but ended up overlapping with others elsewhere in the stack. If you don’t look for this risk, you’re instantly limiting your ability to spend smart.”
So if SaaS procurement visibility has such potential value, what are the key challenges procurement teams face? Why is it so hard to achieve?
Nick Riley: “SaaS can be the Wild West – different teams buying tools, no central oversight, and suppliers pushing for opaque terms. Vendors also understandably don’t always make things like usage data readily available. Shadow IT thrives when no one’s watching, making it easy for budgets to leak. Even when data exists, people often scatter it, let it become outdated, or get it wrong.”
Michael Keller: “The biggest challenge always comes back to data. The lack of a central tracking system, or integrations between systems, are major hurdles for complete SaaS visibility. Without these, procurement teams and those negotiating contracts have to rely on guesswork and ballpark figures, which shift the negotiating power to the supplier, not the customer.”
Jordan Tang: “But it’s not just about your own data. You also need external data to benchmark your vendor selection and costs against. A single procurement team will likely only negotiate with its SaaS vendors every year or two. That’s nowhere near often enough to truly understand whether a vendor is the right one for your business and its ambitions, or their drivers, needs, negotiation style, or what prices are possible. There’s just no substitute for external perspective, as well as internal visibility.
How have you seen the best organisations leverage data analytics to gain better visibility into their SaaS spend and usage?
Nick Riley: “Data turns gut feel into leverage. Benchmarking exposes overpayment, usage tracking highlights waste, and predictive insights stop bad renewals before they happen. The best procurement teams aren’t just negotiating—they’re forecasting, optimising, and outmanoeuvring suppliers.”
Michael Keller: “That’s right. They’re using data analytics to identify usage patterns, uncover hidden costs, optimise contract renewals, and even predict future needs based on real-time insights.
Alongside data, what role does advanced technology play in enhancing visibility and streamlining SaaS procurement processes?
Nick Riley: “The old way—manual tracking, spreadsheets, chasing teams for answers—doesn’t scale. AI and automation surface insights instantly, turning SaaS chaos into control. The best tools don’t just track spend; they predict, prevent, and optimise it.”
Michael Keller: “Modern procurement technology, and the data and analysis it can provide, has changed not only what is possible, but now also what is expected of effective procurement teams. The top procurement leaders we speak to are not surprised by the ability to track licence use, access benchmarks, monitor workflow performance, or even to understand vendors and the landscape better. Instead, they expect this capability and are more interested in how they can best put this insight to work and identify the biggest opportunities for improvement.”
Nick Riley: “The investment in refreshed/new procurement technology remains a key topic for CPOs but not all businesses are ready for this investment. Vertice has created a self assessment to help companies identify how mature their procurement processes are and provide suggestions for improvements.”
Is visibility in SaaS procurement just a short term play to improve contracts and pricing, or can it contribute to vendor management and long-term strategic partnerships too?
Nick Riley: “Suppliers respect informed buyers. When you bring real data to the table, discounts improve, contract terms get fairer, but suppliers also invest in your success. Strong relationships aren’t built on trust alone—they’re built on transparency, alignment, and mutual growth.”
Michael Keller: “We definitely see the same dynamic in the US. Better visibility ensures you’re making the most out of your relationships with key strategic partners. You’re spending what you should and identifying optimisations, but you’re also able to spot opportunities to try new tools, upgrade to the next tier up, or even beta test new features. And in doing so, you can easily track and benchmark performance based on shared goals, so that when you win, they win.”
The question of visibility always brings concerns around privacy. So how do organisations balance this when tracking SaaS usage across departments?
Nick Riley: “Visibility isn’t surveillance—it’s control without intrusion. The right tools anonymise usage trends while surfacing inefficiencies, keeping compliance tight without breaking trust. Procurement should empower teams, not police them.”
Michael Keller: “There are clear guardrails organisations can put in place, such as anonymising data, implementing role-based access controls, and establishing clear data governance policies to protect user privacy while maintaining necessary visibility.”
If an organisation has neglected visibility in their SaaS procurement processes, what risks would arise, what are the warning signs, and how can they be fixed?
Nick Riley: “When no one owns visibility, everyone loses—overspending, compliance gaps, and security risks pile up fast. Auto-renewals trap companies in bad deals, and shadow IT exposes them to unknown liabilities. The fix? Proactive oversight, structured procurement, and a refusal to let suppliers dictate the rules.”
Michael Keller: “Businesses risk far more than spiraling costs, though that’s a chief concern. If they start seeing an increase in even minor compliance issues or security vulnerabilities as their tech stacks grow, then those are classic signs of procurement not quite having full control over the process. And as we all know, these issues can have their own consequences, whether financial, legal or reputational. Implementing a robust SaaS management strategy with clear visibility in your data—what it’s capturing and who can access it—can help mitigate these issues.”
In your mind, how exciting is the future within Vertice and the wider industry?
Nick Riley: “The game is changing, and we’re leading the charge. Procurement is shifting from a cost-centre mindset to a strategic advantage, and the best executive teams will use it to outpace the competition. At Vertice, we’re proving that SaaS procurement isn’t just a function—it’s a force multiplier for the entire business.”
Michael Keller: “The future is incredibly exciting! The SaaS market continues to grow, and Vertice is at the forefront, empowering organisations to take control of their SaaS spend and unlock its full potential. As a business, we are working with some of the largest businesses globally, helping them optimise their constantly growing SaaS environments.
“We can see that SaaS price inflation is outrunning market inflation by a factor of more than 4x – and that’s not the only reason that SaaS cost per employee is climbing so high (currently as much as $8.9k for mid-market and enterprises). This alone creates plenty of opportunity for us to deliver extraordinary value for our customers, but add to that our rate of product development, and we are also seeing the number of ways that we can have impact growing rapidly too.”
Anything else you’d like to add?
Nick Riley: “Procurement is a science in preparation, an art in execution. The teams that master both will win bigger, move faster, and turn SaaS from a black hole into a growth engine. The future isn’t just about savings—it’s about control, strategy, and impact.”
Michael Keller: “Proactive SaaS management, driven by strong visibility, is no longer a luxury but a necessity for organisations looking to thrive in today’s cloud-driven world.”
Jordan Tang: “Negotiation is an art, the more time you have with partners, the higher chance you can generate greater value on both sides.”
Read more about Vertice here.