SaaS purchasing

What is the SaaS procurement process?

Why work with a procurement partner?

Understand your SaaS needs

Discover your portfolio’s potential

Negotiate with real leverage

Ensure smooth onboarding with new tools

SaaS procurement involves a series of steps that a company takes to subscribe to and deploy a new software solution. A well-executed software procurement cycle demands different skills to standard business procurement, as the purchased goods are not one-time, physical products — but digital solutions that each carry recurring costs.

The exact process of SaaS purchasing will vary between organizations, depending on the hierarchy of decision-making. However, it typically follows this general outline:
 

• Identifying business requirements
• Researching prospective tools
• Negotiating with leverage
• Onboarding the new software

For the average organization, SaaS procurement is a drain on time and resources. Without experience of the SaaS market, it can sometimes feel like you’re shooting in the dark to secure the best solutions for your business. This is when you need a procurement partner.

Vertice can manage the entire procurement process for your company. We help to assess business needs, liaise with sellers, inspect contracts, and negotiate. By leveraging our existing vendor relations, we secure deals that all parties stand to benefit from — with a lower cost, faster turnaround, and none of the hassle.

Modern organizations deploy more software products than ever before, and as SaaS costs continue to rise, you can no longer afford to lose time and money to inefficient procurement.
 
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The crucial first step of the procurement process is to identify what your business needs from a given SaaS solution.

It may be that your marketing department has asked for a new sales intelligence tool, or HR needs a timesheet solution — or, an entire suite of collaboration tools may need replacing to better facilitate a remote workforce. Understanding your requirements can help direct your research toward new prospective tools.
 

• Streamline your software procurement
• Review your previous software purchases

Whatever your needs, Vertice can help you to understand what vendors are the best fit to provide you with fulfilling solutions.

Not only can Vertice assist you in procuring new software solutions, we also help you to gain full visibility into your existing SaaS stack. This way, you can see which tools are being used by which teams and make more informed procurement decisions.

This is a vital step toward efficient procurement, because there’s every chance that tools within your existing portfolio could fulfill one of your business needs.
 

• Discover your entire software stack
• Address your maverick spending
• Identify instances of SaaS duplication
• Gain control over SaaS sprawl

By consolidating your software management into one convenient dashboard, Vertice can help you to unlock the potential of the SaaS already in your arsenal.

When it comes time to purchase a new piece of software, the price you’re quoted isn’t always set in stone. Our expert team of negotiators help companies to pay less for their SaaS and ensure optimal contract terms.

As well as long-standing seller relations, we leverage pricing benchmarks from over 13,000 global software vendors — identifying discounts that have been offered to companies like yours that could be matched or beaten.

• Gain leverage with pricing benchmarks
• Learn the best software negotiation tactics
• Consider a multi-year SaaS contract
• Delegate the handling of negotiations
• Use third-party mediation
• Fight back against SaaS pricing obscurity

Our negotiators have years of experience from either side of the SaaS purchasing process — using strategies that ensure that our clients pay the lowest possible price.

Once you’ve selected your new software, you can begin the onboarding process across your organization. As well as training members of staff in new workflows and processes, you’ll want to consider:
 

• Termination of legacy tools and contracts
• Deletion or transfer of data
• Documentation of new contract information
• Ensuring compliance across new systems

To ensure a lean, compliant stack of secure SaaS tools, Vertice can help you to monitor usage across the organization and inspect and manage the terms of each contract.