37 SaaS Tools. One Duplication Challenge.

How Company X Identified SaaS Duplication and Built a More Efficient Software Stack

As Company X grew, different departments began choosing software based on their own needs.

Marketing

selected tools for campaigns and analytics.

Sales

adopted platforms for prospecting and engagement.

HR

introduced applications for recruitment and employee management.

Finance

brought in tools for accounting and reporting.

Each decision solved a specific problem.

Together, they created a much larger one:

SaaS duplication.

Company X discovered that

37 SaaS tools

across departments were serving overlapping or closely related business needs.

By mapping its entire SaaS environment and evaluating tools based on usage, functionality, cost, and business requirements, the company was able to consolidate its software stack and simplify how it managed SaaS.

Client Background

Company X is a growing organisation with multiple departments operating independently.

As teams expanded, software purchasing became increasingly decentralised. Department leaders could select applications that best suited their immediate requirements, often without visibility into what other teams were already using.

Over time, this created a familiar pattern:

Department Need → New Tool → New Vendor → New Contract

Repeated across the organisation, this resulted in a SaaS environment with significant overlap.

The company eventually found itself managing

37 SaaS tools

that could not always be clearly differentiated by business need.

The Problem

The company knew it had a large SaaS stack, but didn't have a clear understanding of where duplication existed.

The key questions were:

Which tools were solving the same problems?

Were multiple departments paying for similar functionality?

Which applications were actively being used?

Which vendors were essential?

Could certain tools be consolidated?

Who owned each application?

What would happen if a tool was removed?

Without a centralised view, consolidation decisions were difficult.

Simply cancelling applications wasn't an option.

The company needed to distinguish between

necessary software and unnecessary duplication.

The Solution

Company X took a structured approach to reviewing its SaaS environment using

SaaSGama

.

01 — Map the Entire SaaS Stack

The first step was creating visibility across departments.

Applications, vendors, ownership, contracts, and other relevant information were brought into one view.

This revealed the actual scale of the company's SaaS environment.

02 — Group Tools by Business Function

Instead of looking at applications individually, the company evaluated them based on the problems they solved.

Tools were grouped around areas such as:

Communication → Collaboration → Sales → Marketing → HR → Finance → Operations

This made functional overlap much easier to identify.

03 — Identify Duplicated Functionality

The review revealed that some applications had overlapping capabilities.

In certain cases, different teams had independently adopted tools that performed similar functions.

The company could now ask a more important question:

Do we need two tools — or can one platform serve both needs?

04 — Evaluate Usage and Business Need

Not every overlapping tool was automatically removed.

Each application was evaluated against factors such as:

Usage

Business importance

Functionality

Cost

Team requirements

Contract commitments

This helped the company make consolidation decisions based on

evidence rather than assumptions.

05 — Consolidate the Stack

Where multiple tools served similar purposes, the company evaluated which solutions provided the strongest overall business value.

Some tools were consolidated.

Others were retained because they served specialised requirements.

The objective wasn't simply:

“Use fewer tools.”

It was:

“Make Every Tool Earn Its Place.”

Implementation

To turn the review into a sustainable process, Company X implemented the changes in stages.

01 — Create a Centralised SaaS Inventory

The company first established a single source of information for its applications and vendors.

This gave teams visibility into software already being used across the organisation.

02 — Establish Ownership

Each application was mapped to the relevant department and owner.

This made it easier to determine who was responsible for:

Evaluating the tool

Managing its contract

Monitoring its usage

Making future renewal decisions

03 — Conduct a Cross-Department Review

Teams reviewed applications together rather than evaluating software only within their individual departments.

This allowed the company to uncover overlaps that wouldn't have been visible from a department-level view.

04 — Prioritise Consolidation Opportunities

Not every duplicate tool could be removed immediately.

The company prioritised applications based on:

Functionality → Usage → Cost → Business Criticality → Contract Status

This helped determine which tools should be consolidated first.

05 — Build SaaS Review Into Future Purchasing

The company also introduced a more structured approach to new software requests.

Before adding another application, teams could consider:

“Do we already have a tool that can solve this need?”

This helped prevent the same duplication problem from returning.

Results

Company X reduced unnecessary duplication across its SaaS environment and created a more structured approach to software management.

37 SaaS Tools Reviewed

The company gained a complete picture of its SaaS environment.

Reduced Duplication

Overlapping functionality became easier to identify and address.

Greater SaaS Visibility

Departments could see what software was already available across the organisation.

Better Purchasing Decisions

Teams had more information before introducing new applications.

Simpler Vendor Management

Fewer overlapping solutions meant fewer vendor relationships and contracts to manage.

Stronger Cost Control

Consolidation created opportunities to reduce unnecessary SaaS expenditure.

The Bigger Lesson

The problem wasn't that every department was buying software.

The problem was that departments were buying software without seeing the bigger picture.

Decentralised SaaS purchasing can make teams faster in the short term.

But without organisation-wide visibility, it can create:

Duplicate Tools

Duplicate Vendors

Duplicate Costs

Duplicate Functionality

The goal isn't to stop departments from choosing the software they need.

It's to make sure every team knows

what the organisation already has before it buys something new.

SaaS Consolidation Starts With Visibility

SaaS consolidation doesn't start with cutting tools.

It starts with visibility.

SaaSGama

helps organisations bring their SaaS applications, vendors, contracts, and ownership into one clear view — so every software decision can be made with the bigger picture in mind.

See Your SaaS Environment Clearly

Identify duplication.

Understand usage.

Improve purchasing decisions.

Build a more efficient SaaS stack.

Explore SaaSGama → saasgama.com