How software subscription costs quietly pile up, where the money slips away, and what a proper review should be looking for.
When did you last look down your business bank statement and wonder what half the direct debits were actually for?
If the answer is "more recently than I'd like", you're not alone. Software subscriptions have a way of multiplying when nobody's looking. You might hear them called SaaS (Software as a Service, pronounced "sass"), which is simply the techy name for any software you pay for monthly or yearly rather than buying outright. A tool for this, an app for that, a free trial that quietly turned into a monthly payment. Each one seems small on its own, but add them all up and it can be a surprisingly big number. Here's where the money tends to go, and why it's so easy to miss.
How Did We Get Here?
Every house has one: a drawer or cupboard of shame. Think Monica's secret cupboard in Friends. Everyone has one, and yet nobody's quite brave enough to throw out the things they use once in a blue moon, just in case. Mine is a drawer full of phone chargers and mystery cables, and the picture is exhibit A. Like Monica, I'm an organised person. I never set out to have a drawer like this, and yet here we are.
Office subscriptions are much the same. Nobody sets out to collect them, but somehow, over the years, the list grows, and nobody's quite sure which ones can safely go. It usually happens for perfectly good reasons. The business grows, a new need comes up, and someone finds a tool that solves it. Then the team changes, the need moves on, but the subscription stays exactly where it is.
Signs your subscriptions might be creeping
- Mystery payments. There are names on the bank statement nobody can quite place.
- Several tools doing the same job. One team uses one app for video calls, another team uses a different one, and both are paid for.
- Licences for people who've left. The person moved on months ago, but their seat is still being paid for every month.
- Renewals that sneak up on you. An annual subscription renews automatically, at a higher price, before anyone remembers to check it.
- "I think Sarah set that up." If nobody's sure who owns a tool, it's probably not being reviewed.
Where the Money Slips Away
It's rarely one big expense that does the damage. It's lots of small ones, quietly ticking along in the background. These are the usual suspects:
- Unused licences. Paying for ten seats when only six people log in.
- Overlapping tools. Two or three apps covering the same ground, often because different people chose them at different times.
- The wrong plan. Paying for a premium tier when the team only uses the basics, or paying separately for extras a different plan would include.
- Forgotten free trials. Signed up to test something out, then quietly rolled into a paid plan.
- Add-ons and extras. Extra storage, extra users, extra features, each one bolted on when it was needed and never revisited.
- Subscriptions on personal cards. Someone pays for a tool themselves and claims it back on expenses, so it never shows up on any central list.
Are You Already Paying for It?
If your business uses Microsoft 365, there's a good chance you're already paying for tools that do a similar job to some of your other subscriptions. Teams for meetings and chat, OneDrive and SharePoint for file storage, and Forms, Bookings and Planner for surveys, appointments and tasks are just a few of the usual overlaps.
But it's rarely a straight swap. Whether a Microsoft app can genuinely replace another tool depends on your plan, how your team work, and what else is connected to it. Get it right, and you save money and make life simpler. Get it wrong, and you end up with a frustrated team and a process that's quietly stopped working.
It's also not about switching everything to Microsoft for the sake of it. Sometimes a specialist tool genuinely earns its place, because it does something important far better, or your team rely on it every day. And if you find you've got several separate tools each covering one niche job that Microsoft 365 can't, there's often a single specialist tool that can handle the lot. One subscription instead of four, and one less login for everyone to remember. The aim is to make sure every subscription is there because it's the right fit, not just because nobody's got round to cancelling it.
It's Not Just About the Money
When subscriptions spread like this, it's often called SaaS sprawl, and it costs more than what comes out of the bank account each month:
- Slower onboarding. New starters have to learn every tool, which can be a lot to take in during their first few weeks.
- More logins, more risk. Every extra tool is another password to manage and another place your business data is stored. When someone leaves, that's another account to remember to close.
- Information all over the place. When files, tasks and conversations are spread across lots of tools, finding anything takes longer than it should.
- Confused teams. "Is that in Teams, or the other one?" A simpler setup means less time hunting and more time actually working.
What a Good SaaS Audit Looks At
A subscription audit sounds simple enough: list everything, cancel what you don't need. In practice, it's often trickier than it looks, because the costly bits tend to hide in the detail.
Where it gets tricky
- Finding everything. Subscriptions hide in bank statements, credit cards, expense claims and annual invoices that only turn up once a year.
- Knowing what's really being used. Every tool reports usage differently, and a licence that looks idle might belong to someone who uses it once a quarter for something important.
- Spotting genuine overlaps. Two tools can look the same on paper but be used in very different ways.
- Choosing the right plan. Pricing tiers are rarely straightforward, and the best value isn't always the cheapest option.
- Untangling what depends on what. Some tools are quietly connected to others, or hold years of data. Cancel the wrong one, and a process can stop working overnight.
- Moving data safely. Switching tools means getting your information across in one piece, without putting client data at risk.
Keeping It Tidy
Once the clear-out is done, a few simple habits will stop the drawer filling back up:
- Give every subscription an owner. One person who knows why it's there and checks it's still earning its keep.
- Keep track of renewal dates. So you get to decide before you're charged, not after.
- Agree how new tools get added. A quick check before anyone signs up stops duplicates creeping back in. If you've read my blog on shadow AI, you'll know this works for AI tools too.
Where to Start
A good first step is simply to pull up last month's bank statement and highlight every software subscription you can spot. Even a quick look often turns up a surprise or two, and gives you a feel for how big the picture really is.
And if that list turns out longer than expected, a fresh pair of eyes can make all the difference. I offer independent, vendor-neutral reviews that look at what you're paying for, how it's actually being used, and where things could be simpler. Take a look at my cloud software support, or see how we could work together.
Or if you'd rather just have a chat, get in touch: helena@optimisedoffice.co.uk.
