What is SaaS Vendor Management?

Time for a reality check. Grab your work computer and check out that desktop…now look at your bookmarks. Just how many different SaaS apps do you have saved? Odds are, it’s too many. In fact, most businesses use an average of 130 different SaaS tools! If you’re tired of navigating a labyrinth of software applications (as well as spending way too much money on a bloated tech stack), it’s time to investigate SaaS management.

The good news is that it’s not too late. You can apply SaaS spend management techniques and learn how to effectively handle your SaaS vendor relationships. We’ll have your bookmarks (and budget) cut down in no time!

What Is SaaS Vendor Management?

SaaS vendor management involves overseeing and optimizing the relationships and interactions with your SaaS providers. It’s crucial to evaluate each SaaS vendor—meaning you need to establish an on-going process to determine if your tech stack is efficient and effective. Your overall goals with SaaS vendor management should be to:

• Streamline and right-size your tech stack.
• Optimize your tech stack to maximize the value of each individual tool.
• Maintain vital relationships, ensuring business continuity.
• Identify and mitigate security risks, like shadow IT.

Think of it in another way: you’re assembling your superhero team! Which vendors and tools bring the biggest bang for your buck? Which ones don’t need to be called up anymore? Once you’ve made this determination, you’ll have an all-star cast as you fight for digital efficiency.

What Is the Vendor Management Process for SaaS?

Navigating the vendor management process for SaaS requires five specific steps:

1. Set clear objectives and expectations. You’re setting the stage for a productive vendor management process by aligning to your organization’s priorities. Be sure to keep these top of mind when evaluating vendor contracts—and you’ll be on target for a great partnership.

2. Focus on quality over quantity. It’s way too easy to get sucked into buying “unitask” SaaS tools—platforms that only do one extremely specific thing (although they probably do them well). It’s important to find the SaaS tools that can serve your needs without adding to the problem of tech stack proliferation!

3. Employ vendor management tools strategically. Using a platform like Lumos gives you an end-to-end solution for managing both internal users and external vendors. The best part? You’ll have the data you need to make this entire process easier. With Lumos, you can consolidate your tools, efficiently manage vendor relationships, and maintain a strong security posture. No unitaskers found here!

4. Communicate clearly and consistently. One of the most important vendor management skills is the human element—as Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, “gddmn it, you’ve got to be kind!” It’s important to be a good partner, approaching each relationship with good faith and maintaining open lines of communication. After all, you’re dealing with people who are working hard to maintain YOU as a customer!

5. Conduct regular maintenance. Vendor management isn’t a “one-and-done” type of process. Your business needs will inevitably change over time, and so should your tech stack. It’s important to dig into the data (like looking at usage reports of what tools are actually being touched) and soliciting feedback from internal stakeholders as you scale or restructure.

What Does a Vendor Management System Do?

SaaS management software like Lumos provides a single source of truth for managing your tech stack. Think of Lumos more like a really amazing librarian: we help with everything from weeding out unused “books” to ensuring that only people with the right credentials are accessing sensitive information to sourcing the tools that people are looking for...and more! In fact, you’ll find that Lumos can be used to:

• Reduce your software spend with SaaS management.
• Create streamlined workflows for quick user access reviews.
• Act as an “auto-pilot” for managing on- and offboarding processes.
• Level up access/identity governance.
• Enable your employees through self-service automation.
• Protect data through privileged access management.

With Lumos by your side, you’ll have oversight and insights into contracts, compliance, and performance—and ultimately, complete transformation of your tech stack.

Streamline and Save with Lumos

It’s time to manage your apps, access, and vendors more effectively. We’re taking a firm line against cluttered tech stacks and overburdened budgets! With Lumos, you’ll have a centralized location to manage apps, access, and vendors—and all the data and tools you need to get to optimizing! But don’t just take our word for it! Explore how our customers have achieved amazing results with our platform or experiment with our impact calculator to see how much you could save by using Lumos. Ready to just get started? Request a demo today and let’s transform your tech stack together.