Most businesses rely on a growing stack of software as a service tools to support teams, workflows and day-to-day operations. But as needs change and new tools enter the mix, it’s easy to keep paying for software without regularly checking whether it’s still delivering enough value to justify the cost.
Managing that spend effectively means looking beyond whether a tool still works and assessing how well it supports the business today. Below, members of Forbes Technology Council share signs that a tool may no longer be earning its place in the tech stack, along with ways tech leaders can evaluate the value of software before renewal time.
It’s Not Moving Business Metrics
First, name the outcome, not the activity: What margin, cycle time or risk metric moves? Usage alone is a red flag. Next, assign one accountable owner—similar to how a patient has one attending physician, not a committee diffusing accountability. Finally, track it like a readmission rate: If it requires workarounds or parallel processes, you’re paying for the tool and paying for the problem, too. Preventive triage beats renewal inertia. – Srinivas Mukkamala, Securin Inc.
Key Tasks Have Shifted To Other Tools
It’s a clear sign when employees still have access to the software but its real job has quietly moved into spreadsheets, Slack or manual processes. Before renewal, tech leaders should compare the tool’s original purpose, current usage and measurable business impact, then ask one revealing question: “What would actually break if we removed it tomorrow?” If the answer is unclear—or the workaround already exists—the value has probably disappeared. – Michal Rahamim, Liberty Pixel
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Only A Few Power Users Remain
A warning sign is when usage drops to a few power users but the invoice hasn’t changed and the agreement keeps auto-renewing unnoticed. Often, people don’t monitor or manage usage trends on a regular basis, so they end up with excess spend (which will get noticed just before renewal). – Patrick Pugh, PwC
Adoption Is Declining
One clear sign is declining adoption. If fewer employees are logging in, discussing the platform or using it in daily workflows—especially as AI tools change how work gets done—it’s time to investigate. Regular usage reviews throughout the year help leaders identify declining value well before renewal discussions. – Josh Dunham, Reveel
Logins Are Minimal
Check your logs! Most companies are paying for software nobody opens. Run a usage report on your apps. Count actual logins, not seats purchased. The gap will surprise you. That one report does two things: It cuts license costs immediately, and it shows you where adoption failed, which usually means the tool was wrong for the job or the rollout was poor. Value doesn’t come from owning software. It comes from using it. – Brian Greenberg, RHR International
Teams Are Building Workarounds
One warning sign is when people keep the license but stop trusting the workflow. If teams are exporting data, building spreadsheets or creating side processes around the platform, the software is no longer delivering the business outcome it was purchased to support. Ninety days before renewal, leaders should compare usage to measurable outcomes and ask frontline teams where the tool creates drag. – Brian Harmison, Corsica Technologies
It’s Not Delivering What You Signed Up For
Tech leaders should pair telemetry with outcome mapping. Don’t just look at logins or feature usage; take a look at whether the tool is still contributing to the workflows, efficiencies or decisions it was originally purchased to improve. When the outcome trail goes cold, the value has already eroded. The most effective leaders run quarterly value checkpoints instead of waiting for renewal season. – Kiran Palla, CogniwareAI
Key Features And Integrations Go Unused
The clearest sign is when your team has quietly built workarounds instead of using what they’re paying for—there are unused licenses, untouched integrations and abandoned features everyone swore they needed. Tech leaders should treat renewal like security: Apply a “zero license” standard, the same as zero trust, and verify actual usage instead of assuming it. A login isn’t adoption. – Tanya Renne, Orchid Connect
Renewal Is Driven By Familiarity
Falling utilization, increasing workarounds and failure to relate the tool to measurable outcomes are all indicators that payment continues for a technology that the organization has outgrown. Most telling is the situation in which contract renewal reflects only a sense of familiarity, with no ability to document the current value of the tool. – Philip Ellis, chrt
It’s Fallen Out Of Daily Workflows
One of the clearest signs is when software is part of the tech stack but no longer part of employees’ daily workflows. Tech leaders should look beyond login metrics and regularly measure business outcomes, feature adoption and customer satisfaction. This should happen throughout the year, not just a few weeks before renewal. That turns renewals into strategic conversations instead of reactive cost-cutting exercises. – Nikita Gupta, Symba
It’s No Longer Delivering The Expected ROI
A software graveyard forms when tools are renewed by habit rather than for value. Tech leaders should routinely review adoption, usage and business outcomes across their software portfolio. Every solution needs success measures and a lifecycle plan. If it no longer delivers the expected ROI, leaders have a responsibility to reassess the investment. That’s the kind of fiscal rigor every CFO can support. – April Ho-Nishimura, Infineon Technologies AG
Only A Fraction Of Its Features Are Needed
A clear sign is paying for a full feature suite while only using a fraction of it. Tech leaders should track feature usage against offered capabilities before renewal. Most SaaS products serve broad industry needs, yet nearly half the features go unused by any single company. With AI adoption and shrinking dev cycles, leaders can build tailored tools in-house. This also pushes vendors to adopt AI-driven development and offer modular, customer-adapted products. – Abhishek Jain, Amazon Web Services
Meaningful Enhancements Have Stalled
One of the clearest signs of declining software value is a lack of meaningful enhancements or feature adoption over the last two to three years. If neither the business nor the vendor is driving new capabilities, the platform may be supporting yesterday’s needs. Tech leaders should assess feature utilization, roadmap alignment and business outcomes well before renewal discussions take place. – Deepak Tiwari, Ernst & Young
The Team Can’t Articulate Its Value
If the team can’t articulate what they’d lose if a tool disappeared tomorrow, it’s a sign it isn’t delivering value. Many contracts renew on inertia because the tool still works, but the problem it solved has moved or been absorbed by another system. Run this exercise well before renewal: Ask the teams who use a tool what would actually break if it was gone. If the answer takes too long or sounds uncertain, you’re paying for a solved problem. Surface it early and renegotiate or cut the service before auto-renewal locks you in. – Diptamay Sanyal
Replacing It Offers Greater Value
Take a page from the CI/CD playbook and apply it to software value. LLM-powered tools can now continuously track not just usage but also outcomes, duplicate capabilities and growing workarounds. But renewal decisions should not be binary; an unpopular HR or payroll platform may still cost more to replace than to improve. The right question is whether improving, consolidating or replacing the tool creates the greatest net value for the organization. – Tamanna Kottwani, Clutch
Enhancement Requests Keep Piling Up
The clearest sign is your enhancement request backlog. When items sit unresolved too long, teams bolt on tools to fill the gaps, with each layer adding friction for users and raising the total cost of ownership. Software must evolve alongside the business. Before renewal, ask what your team can change without the vendor. The shorter that list, the more you are shaping your business around software that cannot keep pace with you. – Dimitri Boylan, Avature
Engineers Spend Too Much Time Propping It Up
It’s a sign when engineers spend more hours maintaining wrappers around a tool than the tool saves. We audit client stacks and find teams burning 20-plus hours a month on integration glue, keeping SaaS products wired to systems they were never built for. Nobody tracks that cost against the license. Add engineering hours to the subscription 90 days before renewal. Real TCO often kills the deal before the vendor calls. – Dennis Vorobyov, EltexSoft
Teams Aren’t Taking Advantage Of New Features
A clear sign is when a team still uses a platform the same way they did on day one, without realizing how much the tool has evolved. Vendors add features constantly, yet many of them are left untouched because teams don’t know about them. Tech leaders should review each major tool before renewal, identifying new features that could drive real value as well as areas of potential overlap to cut. – Ashish Agarwal, OMNIA Partners
