SaaS Consolidation: How CIOs Are Taming the Tool Jungle

25 February 2026

5 min Reading Time

A problem no one ordered is quietly taking root across German IT departments: SaaS sprawl. What began as agile, decentralized software procurement has evolved into a tangled thicket of redundant tools, forgotten licenses, and uncontrolled data flows. Now CIOs are pulling the emergency brake – and consolidating with a rigor that would have been unthinkable just two years ago.

TL;DR

  • SaaS sprawl is exploding: German large enterprises use an average of over 340 SaaS applications; 30-40 percent remain unused (Productiv 2025).
  • Shadow IT dominates: 65 percent of SaaS procurements bypass the IT department entirely (Gartner 2025).
  • Costs have doubled: Annual SaaS spending per employee stands at €4,800 – twice the level seen in 2021.
  • Redundancy is costly: 32 percent of all SaaS licenses cover functions already delivered by other tools (Zylo 2025).
  • Consolidation is underway: 58 percent of DACH IT decision-makers plan active SaaS rationalization for 2026 (Lünendonk Foundation).

“Gartner forecasts that by 2027, roughly 75 percent of employees will procure, customize, or build technology outside the visibility of IT.” (Gartner)

Anatomy of the Sprawl

How did it get this bad? The answer lies in the structure of modern SaaS procurement. Unlike traditional on-premises software, launching a new SaaS tool requires neither a formal procurement request nor IT approval. A credit card and five minutes are all it takes.

Gartner forecasts that by 2027, roughly 75 percent of employees will procure, customize, or build technology outside the visibility of IT. In many German companies, that threshold has already been crossed. Marketing runs HubSpot and Mailchimp in parallel; Sales juggles Salesforce and Pipedrive simultaneously; and every department maintains its own project management tool – Asana here, Monday there, Notion next door.

The problem isn’t just financial – it’s operational. When customer data resides across five disconnected systems, no holistic view emerges. Customer success teams can’t see what Sales knows. Marketing remains unaware of support tickets. And IT security can’t protect what it doesn’t know exists – a risk addressable with modern identity solutions.

A 2025 Zylo study pegs redundant SaaS applications in large enterprises at 32 percent. That means nearly one-third of all SaaS licenses perform functions already covered by at least one other existing tool.

The Problem
340+
SaaS apps per company (Productiv, 2025)
of which 32% redundant (Zylo, 2025)
The Cost
€4,800
per employee per year
27% of that wasted (Flexera)

The Consolidation Wave Is Underway

German CIOs have recognized the issue – and are acting decisively. According to a Lünendonk Foundation survey, 58 percent of DACH IT decision-makers plan active SaaS rationalization for 2026 – not as a disguised cost-cutting measure, but as a strategic initiative.

Approaches vary, but three patterns are emerging clearly.

First: inventory assessment. Companies like Continental and Deutsche Bank are deploying SaaS management platforms such as Productiv or Zylo to establish baseline transparency. This may sound trivial – but many IT departments simply don’t know which tools are actually in use. The “dark figure” sits between 30 and 50 percent.

Second: the platform strategy. SAP’s Business Technology Platform unifies ERP, analytics, integration, and AI under one roof. Microsoft 365 covers communication, collaboration, and productivity. Increasingly, CIOs are leveraging these platforms as gravitational centers – phasing out point solutions that serve only a single function.

Third: governance frameworks. Major industrial conglomerates are establishing internal SaaS governance boards to vet every new application before rollout. These boards assess security, data privacy, integration capability, and redundancy – significantly reducing uncontrolled SaaS deployments.

“Whoever fails to actively govern their SaaS landscape pays twice – once for the license, and again for shadow IT nobody controls.”

The CFO as Ally

SaaS consolidation only works when the CFO is on board – and increasingly, they are, because the numbers speak for themselves.

Flexera estimates average SaaS waste across enterprises at 27 percent of total spend. For a mid-sized company with 2,000 employees and annual SaaS costs of €9.6 million, that translates to €2.7 million spent on unused or redundant licenses – a challenge addressable through systematic Software Asset Management.

Savings potential is well documented. Per McKinsey, companies executing structured SaaS rationalization report cost reductions of 20-35 percent – while maintaining or even improving user satisfaction. The trick isn’t random cuts – it’s keeping the right tools.

One major consumer goods manufacturer consolidated its SaaS portfolio, cutting redundant applications by one-third. Simultaneously, user satisfaction rose – because remaining tools were better integrated and more thoroughly trained.

“The trick isn’t random cuts – it’s keeping the right tools.”

Best-of-Breed vs. Suite: The Pendulum Swings

For years, best-of-breed reigned supreme: a specialized tool for each function, stitched together via APIs and iPaaS platforms – in line with a multi-cloud strategy. That approach still has merit – but it scales poorly.

More tools mean more integrations. More integrations mean more maintenance overhead, greater security risks, and deeper dependencies. Gartner calls this the “integration tax” – which can consume 15-20 percent of total IT personnel capacity in best-of-breed environments.

The counter-trend is unmistakable. Microsoft Teams has led many German companies to replace Slack, Zoom, and WebEx with a single platform. SAP S/4HANA consolidates ERP functions once scattered across dozens of niche systems. Google Workspace extensions now make standalone tools for forms, surveys, and basic project management obsolete.

That doesn’t mean best-of-breed is dead. For highly specialized needs – such as DevOps or industry-specific applications – the specialist approach remains superior. But for standard functions like email, calendar, chat, file management, and basic project tracking, suites are winning.

CIOs who fail to actively steer their SaaS landscape forfeit control over costs, security, and data quality. This consolidation wave isn’t a passing fad. It’s the logical correction to a decade of uncontrolled SaaS growth – and for many organizations, it represents the single largest IT cost-optimization opportunity on the 2026 agenda – hand in hand with a thoughtful FinOps approach.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I discover which SaaS tools are actually being used in my company?

SaaS management platforms like Productiv, Zylo, or Torii scan SSO logs, financial data, and network traffic to build a complete inventory. As a starting point, analyzing SSO login records and corporate credit card statements often reveals the biggest gaps between known and actively used tools.

How do I prevent shadow IT from resurging after consolidation?

The key is a lightweight governance process. A SaaS board that reviews and approves new tools within five to ten business days reduces the incentive for shadow procurement. Crucially: the process must be faster than self-procurement – or business units will simply circumvent it again.

Suite or best-of-breed – which is the right strategy?

For standard functions (communication, office productivity, project management), suites are today usually the better choice – lower integration effort, stronger security, and lower total cost of ownership. For specialized needs (DevOps, industry-specific software, advanced analytics), best-of-breed remains superior. Most organizations succeed best with a hybrid model: suites as the foundation, specialist tools reserved for genuine differentiation.

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