The Zombie Audit: We Cut 30% SaaS Spend Without “Negotiations”

You Are a “Premium” Donor to Tech Companies

I do not care about “Empowerment.” I care that we are paying €25 per month for “Dave” to have a Photoshop license when Dave works in HR and hasn’t opened Adobe since 2022.

Companies collect subscriptions like dust. We sign up for a trial, we forget to cancel. We buy 10 seats because “we are growing,” but we only hire 2 people.

This waste is invisible because it hits the credit card in small chunks. €15 here. €49 there. But in a year, this debris adds up to the cost of a full-time junior employee.

The Leak: The “Auto-Renew” Trap

The enemy is the “Auto-Renew” default. Software companies count on your apathy. They know that if the bill is under €500, you won’t check it.

I recently saw a “Marketing Tool” on a client’s ledger. €200/month. “What is this?” I asked. “Oh, the previous CMO used it,” they said. The previous CMO left 8 months ago. That is €1,600 burned. For nothing.

This is not “overhead.” This is theft by negligence.

[TO EDITOR: Simple bar chart. Bar 1 (Red): “Total SaaS Spend”. Bar 2 (Green): “Active User Spend”. The gap between them is labeled “The Zombie Gap”.]

The Plug: The Usage Audit

We do not negotiate lower rates. That takes too long. We cut the volume.

Here is the Zombie Audit protocol. It takes one hour.

1. The Export: Log into your top 5 most expensive tools (Salesforce, Slack, Zoom, LinkedIn, Adobe).
2. The Data: Export the “User List” with the column “Last Login Date.”
3. The Guillotine:
   • Last Login < 30 days: Safe. Keep them.
   • Last Login > 90 days: Kill immediately.
   • Last Login > 30 days but < 90 days: Downgrade to “Free/Viewer” license.

If an employee screams “I need that!”, tell them to log in. If they log in, they keep it. If they don’t, they lose it. Meten is weten.

The “Just In Case” Fallacy Stop buying seats for “future growth.” Cash is useful now. Software seats are useful later. Keep the cash until the later becomes now.

Summary

An audit should be boring, but the results should be profitable. Go through your credit card statement. If you cannot name the person using the tool, cancel it.

If they really need it, they will ask for it again. If they don’t, you just plugged a hole in your boat.

FAQs

What is a Zombie Subscription?

A paid software seat that has not been logged into for 30+ days. It is dead, but it still eats your brains (money).

Shouldn't we keep seats just in case we hire?

No. That is a tax on laziness. Buy the seat when the new hire signs the contract. Not six months before.

Can't I just ask team leads what they use?

Never ask. They will lie or say 'we might need it.' Look at the login logs. Data does not lie.