Managing SaaS Spend and Cutting Costs: How Finance and IT Can Do It Together

Picture the scene.

It’s the end of the month. A €7,000 charge shows up on the company account. Finance receives the invoice and looks around—no one seems quite sure who signed off on that tool. Meanwhile, IT gets a support ticket: “This new software isn’t working, can you take a look?” The tool, it turns out, was purchased months ago, without their involvement.

Two departments. Two perspectives. One familiar problem: they only speak when it’s too late.

When software enters the business without coordination or visibility, each team acts independently. Finance sees the cost after the money has gone. IT only finds out when something breaks—or worse, introduces risk.

This isn’t a technical glitch. It’s a governance gap.

Each team sees a fragment of the picture, but no one sees the full story. Everyone acts with good intentions, but without shared oversight, fragmentation becomes structural waste.

So what if Finance and IT started working together, by design?

Why Finance and IT Need Each Other

If you want to truly eliminate SaaS waste, you can’t tackle the problem from just one angle.

Finance looks at the numbers. It tracks spend, allocates budgets, and balances cost with growth, always aiming to spend less and spend better.

IT focuses on tech. It checks whether a tool is secure, compatible, and fit for purpose. It asks questions that Finance often doesn’t: Does it work? Does it integrate with the rest of our stack? Who’s actually going to use it?

Different missions. One shared goal: making smarter decisions.

If Finance approves a tool without involving IT, they may end up with something that doesn’t work. If IT implements software without Finance, they might overspend or breach policy.

Only by working together can they truly assess whether a tool is needed, whether it fits, and whether it’s worth the investment. IT looks at the how. Finance focuses on the why—and the how much.

When this alignment is missing, the outcome is predictable: up to 30% of software spend is wasted. Not because people aren’t capable—but because they’re not aligned. No shared systems. No visibility. No coordination.

What’s needed is a shared governance model. One where Finance, IT, and business teams make decisions together—with a clear view of costs, compliance, and actual usage.

Best Practices for Cross-Functional Collaboration

Finance and IT can—and should—work side by side. Here are five practical moves to cut SaaS costs together.

1. Schedule a Monthly Software Spend Meeting

One hour a month can save tens of thousands of euros a year.

Get everyone in the room: Finance, IT, and, when needed, the business teams. Review new software requests, upcoming renewals, and the actual adoption of tools already in use. Clear out the clutter. Ask the right questions. Act as a team.

It’s not just a meeting—it’s a strategic moment. A space to take control before costs spiral. A predictive approach to governance, grounded in real-time data, smart alerts, and informed decisions.

When using WithLess, the hard part is already done. Every tool, every cost, every renewal date—tracked in a single shared dashboard. Always up to date. So instead of chasing spreadsheets, you can focus on what really matters: making the right decisions.

2. Introduce a Shared Approval Process

Every software request should follow the same path.

It starts with a structured intake: the requester explains what the tool is for, what problem it solves, and how much it costs. Then comes the double check: IT reviews the technical side, Finance reviews the financials.

No more approvals over chat. No more personal credit card purchases. With a proper multi-level approval flow, everyone plays their part—but no one acts alone. Responsibility is shared. Decisions are traceable. Waste gets stopped before it starts.

Pro tip: What if there were a standard way to do all this?

That’s exactly what WithLess provides. Every request goes through a digital workflow with built-in policies, full visibility, and the right stakeholders involved at the right time.

3. Use a Single Dashboard for Your Entire SaaS Stack

If every team works off their own spreadsheet, the outcome is predictable: chaos.

What you need is a single source of truth—a unified dashboard where Finance and IT can see the same data: active tools, costs, owners, renewal dates. Always current. Always aligned.

WithLess connects financial, technical, and operational data in one shared view.
No need to build anything—it’s ready to go, and updates itself.

Because if the data isn’t visible to everyone, no one can really take control.

4. Set Clear Policies—and Share Them with the Teams

Some of the biggest issues don’t start with Finance or IT. They start elsewhere—with self-serve purchases, tools paid on company (or personal) cards, and software added without discussion.

What’s needed is a clear policy. Not restrictive, just useful.

Define how a new tool should be requested, who approves it, and when it gets reviewed. Do it together—Finance and IT—and present it to teams as a helpful guide, not a roadblock.

When using WithLess, you can do all this upfront. Set policies directly in the platform. Block renewals that fall outside of scope. Apply spend limits by team or vendor. And let every department know what’s approved, without endless email threads.

The Benefits of Working as One Team

When Finance and IT stop working in silos and start collaborating for real, everything changes.

The first benefit is the most straightforward: less waste.

Unused tools get cancelled before they renew. Duplicates are flagged early. Hidden costs surface and get cut before they hit the budget.

But it’s not just about money.

For IT, it means fewer surprises, fewer emergencies, fewer headaches. 

No more software installed without compatibility checks. No more last-minute support requests for tools no one even mentioned. Everything flows through a clear, shared, manageable process.

For Finance, it means more control, more visibility, more breathing room.

Every euro is tracked. Every tool has an owner. Every decision is backed by data. The time spent chasing down invoices turns into time spent making smart calls.

And there’s one more powerful side effect: speed.

When roles are clear and rules are in place, approving a new tool becomes easier. No endless email chains. No waiting for replies. When using WithLess, for example, the approval flow is automatic, bringing in the right people at the right time, with zero friction and no delays.

The result? More efficiency. More accountability. More satisfaction all round.

A Small Step for You, a Giant Leap for Your Budget

Ready to make a change? You don’t need a task force or a giant transformation project. All it takes is one simple move: start a conversation with your IT counterpart (or Finance, if you’re in IT!).

Grab a coffee together. You don’t need to bring a full list of tools—just sit down and talk. Talk about the software you use every day. The tools no one remembers. The ones that might quietly auto-renew next week, without anyone noticing.

That’s how it starts: with collaboration.

Want to prepare? Download the full guide on managing software spend. You’ll find a clear framework to assess where your company stands—and where it can go next.

Initial, emerging, structured, optimised: every company has a starting point. What matters is taking the first step.

And if you want to do it right, let’s talk. WithLess is built for exactly this.

A shared dashboard. A collaborative approval flow. Clear policies. Assigned owners. Proactive alerts. Everything designed to get Finance and IT in the same (virtual) room, working towards the same goal.

Because the battle against waste? You only win it together.

Request a demo of WithLess.