Procurement
• 9 min read
7 Steps For An Effective SaaS Buying Process in 2024
21st September, 2023
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IT procurement managers play a crucial role in getting suitable software as per the organization’s employees' needs. They're responsible for buying SaaS apps, essential to help the employees work better and improve productivity.
To make this happen, you, as an IT procurement manager, need to understand how to make the SaaS buying process effective. By following the right process, you can make sure to get the right software for your employees.
By understanding the growing trend of SaaS adoption and your organization's needs, your role is to bridge the gap between the organization's requirements and the available SaaS solutions. This is where the SaaS buying process enters.
However, before diving into the SaaS buying process, conducting a thorough organizational needs assessment is important. This involves collaboration with key stakeholders such as department heads, finance, security, and legal teams.
Once you have identified the need for procuring a SaaS app, the next challenge would be to find the required solution. In that case, a SaaS buying process is what you will need. But, it would also have its own hassles, especially when pricing isn’t always transparent and contract negotiations fall short of your expectations.
To help you get rid of all of those hassles, this is where the blog post will help. It will let you explore the various steps needed for an effective SaaS buying process.
7 Steps Involved in an Effective SaaS Buying Process
Let's break down the fundamental steps of the SaaS buying process:
1. Researching different vendors’ options
The first step in the SaaS buying process is often underestimated but holds immense importance – vendor research. Vendor research involves meticulously evaluating and comparing different SaaS providers to identify the one that aligns best with your organization's goals and requirements. This step is crucial for several reasons, making it the foundation of a successful SaaS buying process.
Firstly, vendor research helps you comprehensively understand the SaaS landscape. With countless vendors offering similar services, exploring the market thoroughly is essential. This allows you to discover both established and emerging players, ensuring you take advantage of innovative solutions that could benefit your organization.
Moreover, vendor research aids in assessing the reputation and credibility of potential SaaS providers. It's not just about finding a SaaS solution that meets your technical needs; it's also about partnering with a reliable vendor. Delving into a vendor's track record, customer reviews, and industry reputation can provide valuable insights into their trustworthiness.
Furthermore, this step helps you identify SaaS providers with expertise in your specific industry or niche. SaaS solutions tailored to your industry often come with pre-configured features and integrations that can streamline your processes and offer a competitive advantage.
2. Request proposals
The step of "requesting proposals" holds significant importance in the SaaS buying process. It is a pivotal bridge between identifying your organization's needs and making the ultimate decision. This step is essential for making a strategic decision.
Further, requesting proposals allows you to obtain tailored solutions that specifically address your organization's unique requirements. By detailing your needs and expectations in the request, you invite vendors to propose offerings that align precisely with your goals.
Example: Let's say you've identified a need for a new customer relationship management (CRM) system to enhance customer support. By requesting proposals, you can communicate your specific requirements, such as integration capabilities with your existing systems and scalability to accommodate future growth. This ensures that the solutions you receive are finely tuned to your business.
Moreover, each SaaS provider brings its strengths and capabilities to the table. When you request proposals, you evaluate their offerings and gauge their responsiveness, support, and commitment to your project's success.
3. Evaluating proposals
Evaluating proposals is a pivotal step in the SaaS buying process as it ensures that you make an informed decision. Choosing the wrong SaaS vendor can lead to wasted resources, operational disruptions, and even security breaches. You reduce the risk of making a costly mistake by thoroughly evaluating proposals.
Imagine you're an IT procurement manager of a mid-sized company looking for a project management SaaS solution. You receive proposals from three vendors: Vendor A, Vendor B, and Vendor C.
Vendor A offers feature-rich software at a high cost, which could strain your budget. Vendor B provides an affordable solution but needs more critical integration capabilities than your team requires. Vendor C is in the middle, offering a balanced combination of features, pricing, and excellent customer support.
Without a diligent evaluation process, you might have chosen Vendor A due to its impressive features, only to realize later that it strains your finances and hampers other IT initiatives. Conversely, selecting Vendor B for its low cost might have left your team struggling to integrate it with existing tools, causing operational headaches.
Moreover, it fosters a transparent vendor-client relationship. Vendors who know their proposals will be scrutinized are incentivized to provide accurate and detailed information. This transparency sets the stage for a productive partnership, as both parties clearly understand what to expect.
4. Choose a suitable vendor
Choosing a suitable vendor is one of the most critical steps in the SaaS buying process. This step holds immense significance as it sets the stage for a successful and fruitful partnership.
When your procurement team embarks on the journey of choosing a SaaS vendor, it involves a comprehensive evaluation process. This process isn't just about comparing features and pricing; it goes beyond that. It encompasses multiple aspects, including conducting security audits, scrutinizing contract terms, understanding renewal cycles, and dissecting various terms and conditions.
Let's break down the significance of each aspect:
Security Audits: Choosing a vendor that can safeguard your sensitive information is non-negotiable. Conducting thorough security audits ensures that the vendor complies with your organization's security standards and protocols.
For example, imagine you work for a healthcare institution and are considering a SaaS solution for patient record management. Choosing a vendor with robust security measures can prevent data breaches and safeguard patient privacy.
Contract Terms: The terms and conditions of the contract can make or break the deal. Your procurement team must meticulously examine these terms to ensure they align with your organization's needs and expectations.
Consider a scenario where your company is looking for project management software. The right vendor should offer flexible contract terms that accommodate your evolving project requirements.
Renewal Cycles: Understanding the renewal cycle is vital to avoid unexpected disruptions in service. An example here could be a retail business seeking an inventory management solution. Choosing a vendor with transparent renewal cycles allows you to plan your budget effectively and ensure uninterrupted inventory management.
Legal and Financial Approval: The legal team’s involvement is essential to vet the terms and conditions, ensuring they are legally sound and favorable to your organization. Simultaneously, the finance team plays a crucial role in approving budgets related to the SaaS purchase.
Let's say you're an IT procurement manager at a financial institution considering compliance tracking software. In this case, the collaboration between the legal and finance teams ensures that compliance with regulatory requirements is maintained and the financial investment is justified.
5. Negotiate the contract
Negotiating the contract in the SaaS buying process is an absolutely critical step, one that you, as an IT procurement manager, cannot afford to overlook. In this phase, you're not just negotiating over the price, though that's certainly an important part of it. You're also negotiating other vital aspects that are unique to SaaS like support, timelines, and factors directly tied to the software's usage.
Let's delve into why this negotiation is paramount with a real-world example.
Imagine you’re about to sign a contract with a SaaS vendor that provides a critical inventory management system. You've been impressed by their software, and your team is eager to get started. However, during the negotiation phase, you discover that the vendor's support is only available during their business hours, which happen to be in a different time zone.
Here's where the importance of negotiation becomes evident. By discussing and negotiating this aspect of the contract, you can work with the vendor to create a support plan that aligns with your needs. In this case, you might negotiate for extended support hours or 24/7 support to ensure your business isn't stranded during crucial periods.
Furthermore, in the negotiation, you can define the timelines for implementation, making sure they align with your company's growth plans. This could mean pushing for a faster rollout or allowing flexibility to accommodate any unexpected challenges.
Cost is undoubtedly a pivotal factor, and negotiating it effectively can save your organization significant resources. Perhaps the vendor is willing to offer volume discounts as your user base grows, or they can provide options for scaling up or down depending on your needs.
Additionally, you might want to discuss data security, compliance, and data ownership terms in the contract, ensuring your business's sensitive information remains safeguarded and compliant with industry regulations.
6. Implement the SaaS app
Once you have procured a SaaS app, the next step is to implement and customize it as per your specific requirements. This involves setting up user accounts tailored to your organization's structure. As an IT procurement manager, you understand the importance of seamless access control. This step ensures that only authorized personnel can use the software, safeguarding your data and ensuring compliance.
Secondly, securely transferring data is a fundamental aspect of the implementation process. You've spent time and resources selecting the right SaaS solution, and now you need to ensure that your existing data seamlessly migrates into the new system.
Lastly, providing employees with training on system usage is perhaps an important part of a successful SaaS implementation. Even the most powerful SaaS tools are only as good as the people who use them. As an IT procurement manager, you know training your employees to effectively utilize the new software is essential for maximizing ROI.
Now, let's illustrate the importance of this step with an example.
Imagine you've just invested in a cutting-edge CRM (customer relationship management) SaaS solution. During implementation, your team ensures that user accounts are configured to match your global organizational structure, guaranteeing that sales teams in different regions can access and manage their customer data securely.
Moreover, your SaaS provider offers comprehensive training sessions for your sales and support team. This training empowers them to use the CRM's advanced features effectively, enabling better customer engagement and streamlining internal processes. Consequently, your organization experiences a rapid return on investment as teams become more efficient and customer-centric.
Now that you have walked through the steps involved in the SaaS buying process allow us to introduce you to Zluri - your trusted partner for SaaS buying.
Make Your SaaS Buying Process Simpler with Zluri
Zluri makes managing your SaaS apps a breeze. It handles everything from buying to renewing, all while getting you the best deals. With Zluri’s SaaS buying services, it doesn't just save you money; but also negotiate better SaaS agreements for you. Zluri does all the negotiation work for you, freeing up your employees' time, and delivering the SaaS apps you need when you need them.
For example, Zluri helped a leading cybersecurity company save $500k and 400 hours on SaaS procurement. For MoEngange, Zluri slashed their expenses by over $250k in just 5 months.
How does Zluri do it? Zluri’s SaaS buying experts have crafted a straightforward SaaS procurement process that involves your procurement team, finance, and individual requesters. This ensures complete transparency throughout the SaaS buying journey and eliminates surprises.
Zluri offers an AI-driven SaaS management platform that helps to know your SaaS landscape inside out, giving valuable insights and negotiation leverage. Zluri also has access to 1 billion SaaS transactions, empowering the experts to know the fair prices for various software types and regions.
However, Zluri’s SaaS buying is not just an outsourcing service - think of it as an extension of your procurement team. The experts work hand-in-hand with you, ensuring transparency and trust. They take the lead in communicating with vendors on your behalf, using your email for transparency.
Plus, the experts have got the inside scoop on SaaS prices, offering you data-backed insights and the best deals. Zluri’s pricing strategies are tailored to your specific needs, considering factors like license tiers and employee requirements. Zluri has experts in SaaS pricing and can help you get the most out of your SaaS spending.
Now let’s explore Zluri’s SaaS Buying Process
At Zluri, we've simplified the SaaS buying process into four easy steps: discovery, management, consolidation, and savings. Here's how it works:
Step 1: Discovery
Zluri leverages its SMP to understand your organization’s SaaS technology. Zluri’s experts collaborate with your team to comprehensively map out your SaaS stack using our platform. It leaves no stone unturned in discovering all the SaaS applications within your organization, totaling over 225,000+ applications.
Zluri uses five discovery methods: single sign-on (SSO), financial and expense management systems, direct API integrations, desktop agents (optional), and browser extensions (optional).
Step 2: Management
Zluri helps you manage your SaaS stack effectively. This means eliminating redundant and duplicate applications, ensuring you stay ahead with auto-renewals, and optimizing your license tiers. Doing this eliminates shadow IT practices and optimizes your SaaS spending, saving you money.
Step 3: Consolidation
Understanding your purchase and renewal plans for the year helps consolidate this data on Zluri’s SMP platform along with your purchase history. This enables us to assist you in planning your SaaS purchases for the next 12 months, streamlining your procurement process.
Step 4: Savings
This is where the real value comes in. Your teams or departments select the tools they need, and Zluri steps in to negotiate the best prices on your behalf. Zluri’s SaaS buying experts leverage ZOPA (zone of possible agreements), helping them to estimate the maximum price you're willing to pay for an app.
Also, the experts use the knowledge of BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement), evaluating the different pricing options and selecting the suitable one. Additionally, Zluri automatically identifies and removes unutilized licenses or duplicate apps from your existing subscriptions.
Moreover, Zluri’s experts handle all the necessary closure processes, including legal, security, and finance checkpoints, and meticulously document each contract. This ensures that you can easily track and monitor your SaaS applications.
Here's the best part: Zluri’s SaaS buying service comes with no risk to you. You only pay us when it helps you achieve at least 2x savings. In other words, the amount you save is double the cost of the service.
At Zluri, we're well-versed in the SaaS marketplace and here to help you build the best SaaS stack for your business within your allocated budget. The expert’s strategic planning can yield up to 50% savings on subscriptions with zero upfront costs.
Additionally, within 12 to 18 months of engaging with Zluri, it will help you establish robust governance around all your SaaS contracts and payments, ensuring long-term efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
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