Software Spend Management: What It Is and Why It Matters for Modern Finance Teams

One day, a €4,200 invoice shows up. No one knows why. No one knows what for.

A week later, another appears. Different tool, different team, same silence.

Spoiler: the problem isn’t the software.

Software is what made companies faster, more scalable, more distributed. It’s the engine behind digital transformation. But when it isn’t managed, it turns into invisible costs, approvals lost in Slack threads, and automatic renewals that derail your forecasts.

Today, the real risk isn’t buying too much software. It’s not knowing who’s buying it, when, or why.

This isn’t an IT issue. It’s governance.

In 2024, Italian companies spent €6.8 billion on software and cloud services, a 24% increase on the previous year, driven by SaaS adoption and AI integration. Yet 58% of businesses report difficulties in tracking and governing their cloud spend.

That’s why doing things “the way they’ve always been done” no longer works. When any team can activate a new tool with a shared card and two clicks, you need structure. You need roles. You need systems.

Because without clear management, software spend becomes a black hole in your budgets. And the CFO is left chasing data, explanations, and approvals that should be automatic.

That’s where software spend management comes in: an operational approach that brings complete visibility over SaaS costs, and saves both time and money.

Let’s look at why it matters, and what really makes the difference.

What Is Software Spend (and Why It’s Now Out of Control)

here was a time when managing company software was simple. One purchase, one invoice, one person responsible.

Then SaaS arrived.

Agile, self-service tools, activated in a click. Every team began picking their own software — without consulting finance or procurement, often with zero oversight.

What once looked like flexibility has now become pure fragmentation.

What do we mean by "software spend"?

Software spend includes everything tied to digital tools in the business: SaaS licences, cloud services, departmental and collaborative tools, and recurring subscriptions — often activated independently, without guidelines, and left running well past their useful life.

This isn’t just an IT issue. It’s an operational expense.

And in EU companies in 2025, it ranks among the top cost centres, often right after payroll.

Why it’s become difficult to tame

The system has broken. And the numbers are clear.

Our data shows that 60% of software purchases bypass Finance and Procurement. 40% renew automatically, without anyone approving or monitoring them.

Meanwhile, invoices get lost between inboxes and ERPs, tools remain active even if unused, owners change or disappear — and no one has an up-to-date map of the software stack.

According to the same data, 52% of companies don’t even know how many tools are currently in use. One in three pays for tools that haven’t been touched by any team in over 90 days.

A day in the life, Europe 2025

Technology stacks are growing. Budgets are split across too many teams. Governance is missing.

Software spend has become invisible, and that’s exactly what makes it dangerous.

Not because the tools are missing. But because the system is.

Software Spend Management: What It Really Means

It’s not a software tool. It’s not just a tidier Excel sheet. And it’s definitely not just a cost-cutting strategy.

Software Spend Management is the set of processes, tools and practices a company uses to monitor, control and optimise its software costs.

In practice, it means knowing what’s being used, how much it costs, who approved it, and what impact it’s having on the business, all in real time.

But here’s the key: managing software spend isn’t about spending less. It’s about spending better.

Creating more value from the tools you use

The goal isn’t simply to eliminate unused tools. It’s to maximise the value of the software your teams actually rely on.

It means ensuring every licence has an owner. Every renewal is justified. Every euro spent is traceable.

When the system works, three things happen:

• hidden costs surface before they become problems;
• decisions are based on data, not guesswork;
• Finance, IT and Business speak the same language.

The four operational pillars

A solid Software Spend Management programme stands on four key foundations:

• Visibility – to know who’s using what
  
• Control – to define who can buy, and under what rules
  
• Automation – to eliminate manual work and reduce errors
  
• Ownership – because without clear responsibility, no system holds up
  

It’s a strategic approach. And today it’s no longer optional, it’s essential.

Why It’s a Today Priority for CFOs and Founders

In 2025, software has become the second-largest operational expense for many companies, right after payroll. It used to be “an IT thing”. Now it’s a budget issue. Which makes it a CFO issue.

Software spend has a real economic impact

Software spend is no longer marginal.

We’re talking about hundreds of active tools, often on recurring contracts, many of which renew automatically. And yet, in far too many cases, no one is really tracking where that money goes.

Hidden inside those invoices is a potential double-digit saving.

But only if there’s a system in place to catch it.

Accountability: the CFO’s strategic role

Today’s finance leader doesn’t just close the books. They’re responsible for transparency across every line of spend. And yet, IT and SaaS costs remain among the most opaque.

If you don’t know who bought what, with which budget, and with what return — you’re not governing. You’re chasing.

Avoiding surprises

Nothing ruins a forecast like an unapproved renewal. 

When contracts renew themselves, decisions become passive. And Finance always steps in too late.

The only way to eliminate these surprises? Proactive management.

Runway, growth and control

Whether you’re a founder, a CEO or a CFO, every euro wasted on unused software is a euro you can’t spend on hiring, investing or scaling.

Managing SaaS spend properly extends your runway, frees up margin, and buys time to grow deliberately.

And for investors, that’s a strong signal: this company spends with discipline.

‍“With a structured system in place, we now have full control over software costs. Payments are automated, renewals are no longer a problem. We focus on growing the business — and the system makes sure we never overpay again.” — Fabio Ferioli, CFO of Smartness

How to Actually Do It: The Pillars of Modern Spend Management

The good news? You don’t need a revolution. You need a system.

A system that’s replicable, scalable, and built on simple, structured actions.

Any company can build an effective software spend management programme by focusing on four core pillars. No jargon. Just what’s needed to turn chaos into control.

• Visibility. Knowing who uses what, how much it costs, and when it renews. That means having one central, real-time dashboard where every tool is tracked, licences, cost centres, owners, renewal dates. Today, the issue isn’t the spend. It’s not seeing the spend.‍
• Control. Every purchase starts with a clear request and goes through an approval workflow. No more tool activations over chat. No more recurring subscriptions without an “OK”. A good system defines who can request what, with which budget, and who approves it.
• Automation. Invoices, payments and ERP syncs should happen without manual work. When everything’s connected — smart cards, tracked transfers, automatic invoice collection — the Finance team stops chasing PDFs and starts working with real data. Less time wasted. More time spent strategically.‍
• Collaboration. No system works if Finance, IT and Business are working in silos. Effective software spend management is built on shared data, clear roles and distributed responsibility. Every team is accountable for the tools they use. Every decision is traceable.

These four pillars — visibility, control, automation, and collaboration — are the foundation of a modern system.

You don’t need twenty different tools. You need one clear playbook — and a method that scales with your company.

Tools on the Market: From Spreadsheets to Purpose-Built Platforms

Anyone trying to manage software spend today has, essentially, three options.

Spreadsheets + Email

This is the most common approach. A shared file, a few pivot tables, invoices forwarded by email.

Does it work? Yes, if you’re managing ten tools. But then it becomes twenty. Fifty. A hundred. And suddenly, that file isn’t enough.

You lose visibility over what’s active, waste time tracking down invoices, and spot anomalies only after the damage is done.

Ad hoc consultancy

Some companies bring in external consultants to analyse their software costs.

But these are nearly always one-off interventions, expensive, hard to scale, and difficult to integrate into everyday processes.

Once the project ends, the chaos comes back.

Specialised tools

In recent years, platforms have emerged that are built for one thing: making software spend management simple, trackable and continuous.

WithLess is one of them. But with a difference.

It doesn’t just show you data. It connects it. Activates it. And makes it actionable. WithLess, you:

1. Know who’s buying what, when, and what. Every request goes through a structured intake, with defined budgets, goals and ownership. No tool enters the system without traceability. No renewal happens without approval.
2. Connect payments, budgets and accountability. Each vendor gets a dedicated smart card or tracked bank transfer. Everything is visible and under control.  The data feeds monthly budgeting, reconciliation and reporting, no manual input required.
3. Eliminate waste before it happens. Smart alerts flag duplicates, underused tools and upcoming renewals. Tools can be cancelled in a click, with clear governance over who approves and who uses what.
4. Sync accounting in real time. Invoices and payments are automatically linked to your ERP. Finance stops hunting for PDFs and starts answering audits and board reviews with ready-to-go data.
5. Unlock cross-team collaboration. Everyone sees the same information: costs, renewals, owners. Each team is accountable for the tools it uses. Every euro spent has a reason, an owner, and an expected result.

What You Get: Tangible, Measurable Benefits

Excel was made for numbers — not for governance.

When using WithLess, software spend management is no longer a side project that needs constant updates. It’s a live system that works automatically, every day, to give you visibility, control and savings.

Alright — but what really changes when you manage software spend in a structured way?

Short answer: less waste, more time, better control.

Full answer? Here it is.

Up to 30% cost savings

When you know exactly what you're paying for — and why — cutting the excess becomes easy.

Unused tools are cancelled before renewal. Duplicates are blocked at the request stage. Costs are renegotiated with hard data in hand.

And the numbers speak for themselves: up to 30% of your software spend can be recovered.

16+ hours saved every week

Manual invoice collection? Missing payment trails? Chasing PDFs before month-end?

Automation eliminates all of it.

Finance gets back valuable time — up to two full days per month.

Faster decisions, no surprises

No more unapproved renewals, surprise charges or ghost licences.

Every spend is visible in real time. Every decision is trackable. Every forecast is realistic.

Cross-team alignment

Finance, IT and Business work from a shared dashboard. 

Same data. Clear roles. Distributed responsibility. 

And finally — no more blockers caused by confusion.

Headroom to invest

Eliminating waste frees up resources.

Those resources become budget you can reallocate to what matters: hiring, marketing, R&D.

Managing software spend well means unlocking strategic margin.

If You Run Finance, You Also Run Software Spend

For years, software spend sat on the sidelines — a grey area between IT, Finance and Business.
No one truly owned it.

But that’s no longer the case.

Software is everywhere. And how you manage it now determines whether your budgets stay under control — or spiral. Whether you scale sustainably — or let costs slow you down.

The ones who manage software spend today are the ones who drive growth tomorrow.

That’s why modern CFOs can’t afford to just cut.

They need to build a system that sees, governs and optimises.

If your company is still managing software tools in a fragmented way, now’s the time to shift to an operational, scalable and collaborative approach.

Download the full guide

Discover the 4 practical steps to build a software spend system that actually works and saves you 30% of your budget.

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