Contract approval in half the time and 33% savings

The Challenge

As with any fast-growing company, Capmo relied on a number of software applications to support its rapid growth, allowing it to expand its team from four employees to more than 100 in less than five years. But while these tools gave it the flexibility it needed to scale effectively, the sheer volume being used also came with its challenges. 

With a decentralized approach to procurement, Capmo’s biggest problem was that it lacked oversight of these tools. Not only was the company manually managing 90 SaaS contracts through a spreadsheet, but it also wasn’t aware of the full extent of its software portfolio. 

For IT, this led to concerns around how the growing number of software applications would impact utilization and security. Within the finance team, there were concerns around the rapid increase in SaaS spend.

Another problem the company had was around tool ownership. With certain SaaS tools being used by multiple departments, it was rarely clear who should take responsibility for initiating renewals or negotiating contracts, which left the company not only paying more, but also agreeing to unfavorable terms or locked into contracts that were no longer required.

With further growth plans on the horizon, the leadership team at Capmo knew this lack of oversight and control was unsustainable and that it was time to start thinking strategically about its technology. 

The Solution 

Capmo was looking for a platform that supported two things: proactive negotiation and usage oversight. Ultimately, the leadership team wanted the ability to quickly determine which tools were being used across the organization, how much they were spending on each tool, and how effectively they were using the licenses they were paying for.

Capmo partnered with Vertice because it perfectly married these two requirements. According to Roland Schmid, the VP of Finance and Operations, “We knew from our first interaction with Vertice that it was the holistic SaaS procurement partner we were looking for. The platform provided the kind of visibility we needed to improve decision-making and take control of our software, while the depth of pricing and negotiation knowledge gave us confidence that we were making the best financial decision.” 

The company’s internal teams also saw the benefits of partnering with Vertice.  For the IT team, it was key that any platform would provide them with visibility of the company’s growing SaaS stack, in order to avoid tool duplication and overprovisioning. This was something they were reassured that Vertice could deliver on. 

Similarly, the finance team wanted a negotiation partner that would remove the burden of communicating with vendors, while ensuring that Capmo was paying the best possible price for the tools it needed. By providing them with projected savings, Vertice was able to demonstrate it was the right fit. 

The Results  

Capmo’s mission is to make hard things in construction feel easy. The executive team wanted this idea to extend to internal processes as well. As a result, Capmo’s first priority with Vertice was to simplify and streamline its procurement  process. Within the first few weeks, Capmo had completely revamped its process to maximize both security and efficiency. 

Vertice partnered with Capmo’s leadership team to detail the process steps, beginning with tool discovery in Vertice’s Vendor Marketplace through to final contract approval. By leveraging Vertice workflow functionality to ensure accountability and oversight, Capmo’s team could keep stakeholders informed of important decisions without causing delays in the procurement process.

“We can now run the entire SaaS management process in Vertice, from discovery to purchasing and renewals. By leveraging the platform workflows, we have halved the time it takes to approve a new contract while simultaneously improving oversight for our finance and IT teams,” said Roland Schmid. 

Simultaneously, Capmo could count on the negotiation expertise of Vertice to deliver cost-savings. After delivering 33% savings on the first strategic contract negotiation, Capmo was positive they had selected the right partner to support both its short- and long-term growth.