How to Stop Shelfware from Draining Your Business Budget

As a stakeholder, you and your team needed a project management tool, so you led the research, selected the most well-reviewed option, signed the contract, purchased it, and then watched it sit unused. Does this sound familiar?

This is the hidden cost of shelfware.

At CloudFuze, we offer SaaS management software to prevent shelfware and eliminate software license waste.

In this guide, you’ll learn what shelfware is, why it matters, and how to stop it from draining your resources. You’ll also discover how CloudFuze Manage can give you the necessary visibility and control.

What is Shelfware and Why Does It Matter?

Shelfware is software that your organisation purchased but doesn’t actually use. This can happen for many reasons, from poor planning and lack of training to simply choosing the tools that don’t fit your team’s actual needs.

When you pay for software that no one uses, you’ll face some challenges, like:

• You lose money that could be better spent elsewhere and miss out on opportunities to invest in tools that could actually benefit your business.
• Unused software can become outdated & vulnerable to SaaS security risks
• You are supposed to manage even those unused tools.

How to Stop Shelfware from Draining Your Business Budget

Enterprises invest in software to make their team’s work easier, but when those tools go unused, they quietly drain your budget. Discussed here are some of the software procurement best practices to safeguard your software budget and optimize SaaS usage:

1. Try to Understand Your Business Requirements

You must collect details about your business needs and what tools can fulfil its requirements. To avoid confusion, prepare a list of relevant tools.

2. Make Sure to Involve All Key Stakeholders

Include representatives from each team/department in the selection process to understand their preferences and opinions on the tools you’re considering. Ask stakeholders to rank their needs so you can focus on the features that matter most. This will make sure you choose software that delivers real value.

3. Choose the Right Software Every Time

Don’t rely only on reviews. Match software to your business needs by evaluating how well each solution solves real business challenges for your team.

4. Conduct Thorough Technology Evaluations

You can take time to assess all viable options. Also, use your business-specific checklist to avoid mismatches. Skipping this step can lead you straight to shelfware.

5. Give Importance to Priorities before Purchase

Only shortlist and get a demo of the tools that align with your ranked priorities. Once your team members are satisfied with the tool’s demo, make a purchase.

6. Get Complete Visibility into Your Stack

You can use a third-party SaaS management software like CloudFuze Manage, which offers a centralized dashboard to track licenses, usage, and renewals. This gives you the clarity to spot underused software early and reduce waste.

7. Automate Spend & Renewal Management

Set up automated alerts and get notified before auto-renewals hit. So that you can make timely, data-driven decisions.

Using our SaaS management software, you can renew licenses automatically and optimize your software expenses easily.

8. To Measure User Sentiment, Conduct Surveys

Regularly send out quick surveys to learn which tools your team values most. Honest user feedback help guides your software strategy and renewal decisions.

9. Monitor Your Enterprise’s SaaS Usage

Track usage regularly and compare it against industry benchmarks. Identify tools that no longer serve your goals and phase them out.

10. Do not Forget to Optimize Onboarding for New Hires

Equip and train new team members with only the tools they need. Also, software provisioning should be aligned with specific roles from day one to prevent shelfware.

How CloudFuze Manage Helps You Eliminate Shelfware

Our SaaS management platform helps you take control of shelfware by giving you complete visibility into your software stack.

Here’s how you can achieve it:

• Connect all your software licenses in one centralized dashboard using our SaaS management platform. You can integrate 50+ major SaaS platforms to manage everything from a single place.
  
• You can see exactly what you’re spending and who’s using what. Our unified dashboard shows your connected apps, active users, total costs, and where you can save.
  
• Easily spot shelfware with the help of the “Integrations” widget, which automatically flags inactive users and overlapping tools that add no value.
  
• You can also find built-in analytics like “App Insights” under “Potential Savings”.
  
• The License Management option under the “Applications” widget lets you decide which licenses to cut or reassign to save up to 30% on your software costs.
  
• Using our SaaS management app, you can also automate your onboarding and offboarding process to make sure that every user has the right tools from day one and that nothing goes unused.
  

Mitigate the Financial Impact of Shelfware with CloudFuze Manage

Shelfware may seem harmless, but it adds up, costing your business money, time, and missed opportunities. However, you can take control by understanding your needs, involving your teams, and using innovative tools like CloudFuze Manage.

At CloudFuze, we provide businesses with an all-in-one SaaS management solution that identifies shelfware without hassle and optimizes your SaaS spend.

Contact us to get more value for every dollar you spend on your software!

FAQs

1. How can I identify shelfware in my software portfolio?

You can track software usage, audit your licenses, and analyse team adoption to spot shelfware. However, CloudFuze Manage makes it easier to find shelfware with its advanced features, such as full visibility, license management, and real-time insights, to optimize SaaS spend across your SaaS portfolio.

2. How can I improve employee adoption to ensure my software investments are fully utilized?

Boost adoption by training your team, communicating benefits, and offering support. With CloudFuze Manage, you track engagement, automate onboarding, and ensure your software investments drive maximum value and productivity across your organization.

3. What strategies does CloudFuze Manage use to prevent shelfware from reappearing?

Our SaaS management software prevents shelfware by automating license audits, aligning purchases with your team’s needs, deprovisioning inactive users, reclaiming unused licenses, and continuously optimizing your SaaS portfolio to keep it efficient and cost-effective.