This case study of a firm that removed USD 220K of duplicate SaaS tools is an anonymised composite, drawn from patterns we see repeatedly in mid market engagements. It shows how stack rationalization turns scattered, overlapping contracts into a single annual saving without taking away tools people rely on.
It illustrates our SaaS stack rationalization service in practice and connects to the wider digital workplace cost optimization program.
Situation
A professional services firm of roughly 900 employees across three offices had grown quickly, and its software stack had grown with it, team by team. Finance saw a collaboration and content spend that rose every year and could not easily explain why. There was no single owner of the portfolio and no map of what overlapped. The brief to us was simple: find the waste without disrupting client work.
The overspend found
The assessment grouped every application by the job it did, and the duplication was immediate. The firm ran two separate video meeting platforms while already paying for meetings inside its Microsoft 365 estate. Chat was split across an owned tool and a standalone product. File storage was spread across three services. A standalone electronic signing tool sat next to signing capability the firm already held. Inactive seats added another layer of dormant cost on top.
Individually each contract looked defensible. Mapped together, the redundant tooling came to about USD 220K a year, most of it duplicating capability the firm already owned inside Microsoft 365.
Approach
We worked the savings in order rather than rushing to cancel. First we layered usage data over the inventory, so every decision rested on evidence rather than assumption. Tools with few active users and a capable owned replacement became clear candidates to retire. Tools that were deeply embedded in client delivery were kept, even where they overlapped on paper.
Next we built a consolidation plan anchored on platforms the firm already paid for. Meetings and chat moved onto Microsoft 365. Storage consolidated onto the owned platform with a managed migration. Standalone signing was replaced by capability already in the estate for the bulk of use cases, with a small retained license for specialist needs. Crucially, we sequenced every retirement to a renewal date, so the firm cancelled before each contract rolled over rather than paying to break it early. We tracked auto renewal notice windows so none lapsed by default.
Outcome: the firm removes USD 220K of duplicate SaaS tools
Across two quarters the firm removed about USD 220K in annual duplicate tooling spend. Several hundred inactive and redundant seats were reclaimed in the process. Four overlapping product categories were consolidated to one tool each, mostly onto Microsoft 365. User disruption was minimal, because every retired tool had a capable replacement already in daily use, and the help desk reported fewer tools to support rather than more friction.
Beyond the headline saving, the firm gained a single view of its collaboration and content stack and a renewal calendar it had never had before.
Lessons for buyers
Three lessons carry across most mid market stacks. First, duplication hides in plain sight because each contract is reviewed alone, never as a category. Second, the cheapest replacement is almost always a platform you already own, so consolidation onto Microsoft 365 should be the first option tested. Third, timing the cancellation to the renewal date is what converts a plan into cash, so the work has to be sequenced, not rushed.
To keep the saving permanent, the firm adopted a lightweight intake process, checking new requests against owned capability before purchase. See the method in tool rationalization and the discipline behind it in the SaaS renewal negotiation playbook. More outcomes are in the case study library.