Rationalize your portfolio

Most organizations pay for the same job more than once: a suite that already does it, plus tools that teams bought on their own. Asato finds where two or more paid applications do the same job, shows which spend can stop, prices the switch, and counts a saving as Saved only when the invoice has changed and the customer agrees the figure. Applications nobody approved get a named owner and a rule. People decide what stays, and nothing changes until a named person approves it. Asato's fee is a share of the savings, and if the one-week Asset Clarity Report finds no savings the customer pays nothing.

When to use it

• The organization pays for several tools that do the same job, such as work management, video meetings, team chat or file storage.
• Teams buy applications on their own budgets, and nobody holds a count of the contracts behind each job.
• A list of overlapping applications already exists, and nothing has come off an invoice because of it.
• Renewals and notice dates arrive before anyone has decided what to keep.
• Applications are in use that nobody approved, and they have no owner.

Not a fit

• A decision made by software. Asato recommends. A named person decides, and the budget owners sign.
• Negotiating with a vendor or giving notice on the customer's behalf. Asato equips the customer to do both. Asato does not negotiate.
• A replacement for a CMDB, an application portfolio tool, an IT service management system or a contract repository. Asato works alongside them.
• A one-time inventory with no intention to act on it.

The job in one line

Stop paying twice for software that does the same job. Asato finds where two or more paid applications do the same job, prices the switch, and counts a saving only when it is off the customer's invoice and agreed with the customer.

The problem: one job sits on several contracts, each on its own clock

A job such as work management is often delivered by several paid sources at once: a product inside the suite the organization keeps, and standalone tools bought by marketing, by the project office or by engineering. Each of those contracts renews on its own date and has its own notice date. If a notice date passes, that contract runs for another term.

Counting applications does not show where the money is. The money sits in units of expense: the paid contracts and the seats that do the same job twice. Three things follow from that.

• A product inside a suite the organization keeps saves nothing when it is dropped. The suite is one line on the invoice, and the line does not change.
• Money moves only when a contract allows it, which is at the renewal, after notice given in time.
• A shared label is not proof that people can switch. Two tools with the same label can serve different people and different work.

The formula: what a saving is made of

Asato organizes the job with one formula:

Saving = the sum, over paid contracts, of the spend that can stop, less the cost to switch, counted when the invoice changes.

Each of its three terms is a question, and Asato answers all three from the customer's own records.

Three questions to answer before notice is due

1. Which spend can stop? (the sum of the spend that can stop) Spend can stop where a contract can end. Asato tags each contract with the jobs its applications do, and counts a suite once. Each job is then placed by two measures: the number of paid sources that do it, and the spend that can stop, which is spend on a contract of its own or on an add-on. Spend on a suite the customer keeps is left out. A contract that covers several jobs is reviewed as a whole contract, which is the work the Right-size software page describes. Jobs with several paid sources and spend that can stop form the shortlist. No saving is claimed at this step, because who can switch is still unknown.
   • Link: each contract is tagged with the jobs its applications do, and a suite counts once.
   • Think: each job is placed by its paid sources and by the spend that can stop.
   • Execute: the shortlist goes to the owners of those contracts. No saving is claimed yet.
2. Can people switch, and at what cost? (the cost to switch) Each group gets a recommendation, and the switch gets a price. For each job on the shortlist, Asato checks what share of each tool's users already use the standard, whether the standard comes with their current license, and what the switch would cost: upgrades, migration, training and running both tools for a while. Where usage data cannot settle it, the customer's admin can approve a short survey. Asato then recommends a decision for each tool, and where needed for each group of users, in the terms of Gartner's TIME model: Tolerate, Invest, Migrate or Eliminate.
   • Link: each tool's users are matched to what they use, in that tool and in the standard.
   • Think: the recommendation uses Gartner's TIME model (Tolerate, Invest, Migrate or Eliminate), and the switch gets a price.
   • Execute: nothing changes until the budget owners sign. No answer means no change.
3. Will the invoice change in time? (counted when the invoice changes) Each decision is dated back from its notice date. Asato reads the renewal and notice dates from each contract and works back from them. The decide-by date is the notice date, less the time it takes to move. After approval, people move in waves that finish before notice is due, and unused seats are removed before the renewal count is fixed. The customer gives notice. The saving is counted when the invoice shows the new seat count or price.
   • Link: renewal and notice dates are read from each contract.
   • Think: the decide-by date is the notice date, less the time it takes to move.
   • Execute: Asato reclaims the seats and opens the tickets for each wave. A person the customer names approves each fix, or sets a policy that governs fixes of that kind. The customer gives notice.

Asato repeats this review every quarter, and before each renewal.

The three steps under each question are the same three the platform runs everywhere. Link: the Asset Knowledge Graph links every asset, person, contract and cost into one record. Think: the Data Intelligence Engine turns the record into recommendations, each with a price and an owner. Execute: Agentic AI carries out the fixes the customer approves, and keeps watching.

Found, Approved and Saved are different figures. Found is what Asato identified and priced. Approved is what a named person signed. Saved is what the customer and Asato agree came off the invoice: a Saved figure is agreed jointly by the customer and Asato at the close of the engagement, and the invoice is the evidence for it.

How people decide

Asato uses Gartner's TIME model as the vocabulary for each decision. Asato applies it to a tool, and where needed to a group of that tool's users.

Keeping two tools for a stated reason is a valid answer. The owner of each tool confirms or edits the recommendation, and the budget owners whose money moves sign it. Nothing happens by default if nobody answers.

Applications nobody approved

Asato finds applications in use that nobody approved and lists them beside the paid ones. The two groups are handled differently, because the money sits in different places.

• A paid application has a company contract that can end. It goes through the three questions above.
• An unapproved application gets a named owner. The owner approves it, moves its people to the standard, or retires it.
• Free tools and tools that employees expense have no company contract to end, so Asato counts no saving on them.
• The standard chosen for each job becomes the rule for the next request.

On the visual page this is its own section, after the three questions. The steps above are set beside its heading and labeled as Asato's method: each unapproved application gets a named owner, the owner approves it, moves its people to the standard, or retires it, and the standard for each job becomes the rule for the next request. CDW is the customer shown in the section, and its figure holds CDW's counts only: CDW matched every entitlement to a user and to real usage across five source systems, and Asato found 600+ paid applications and about 1,200 unapproved applications there in four weeks. The same section carries one Measured figure from a multi-site health system, given under Measured results below.

Example data

The product screens on the visual page show example data, not a customer result. One invented company of 3,400 people is used throughout, and no customer is behind it.

• In scope (not shown on the visual page): 19 paid lines, $3,780,000 a year, covering 16 jobs. $1,660,000 a year sits on the Microsoft 365 suite the company keeps, and is left out because it cannot stop.
• The review of every job: sixteen jobs are placed by the number of paid sources and by the spend that can stop. Four jobs have three or more paid sources and spend that can stop above 1% of the spend in scope. They are work management (5 paid sources, $188,400 a year, 1,282 people paid for twice), video meetings (3, $178,200, 1,468), team chat (3, $151,000, 1,148) and file storage and sharing (3, $120,000, 1,018). Together that is $637,600 a year that can stop. It is not a saving.
• One job, work management: Planner, which comes with the suite for 3,400 people; Asana, 349 seats, bought by marketing, notice due by June 1; Smartsheet, 154 seats, bought by the project office, where notice was due on October 1 and the contract renews on November 1; a Project add-on, 108 seats, bought by IT; and Jira, 671 seats, bought by engineering, notice due by January 1. In this example 1,282 people are paid for twice. Three of the five paid sources can end, worth $188,400 a year: Planner comes with the suite the company keeps, and Jira is a contract shared with other jobs.
• The decisions: Planner with the Project add-on is the standard (Invest). Asana: 241 people migrate, 68 seats are tolerated for a product team whose files live on Google Workspace, 40 unused seats are eliminated. Smartsheet: 96 people migrate, 40 seats are tolerated for field crews who share sheets with outside contractors, 18 unused seats are eliminated. Jira is tolerated on timing and tested again before its next renewal.
• The money: of 503 Asana and Smartsheet seats, 337 people move to Planner, 108 are tolerated for a stated reason and 58 unused seats go. Found, $115,224 a year. Cost to switch, $128,974, once. Agreed as Saved once the July 1 invoice shows 68 Asana seats ($74,184 a year) and the November 1 invoice shows 40 Smartsheet seats ($41,040 a year). The company is $13,750 behind after one year and $101,474 ahead after two.
• Also shown on the visual page, in the same example: 14% of Asana's users and 26% of Smartsheet's users already use Planner. The decision on Asana is due by January 2 and the decision on Smartsheet by April 4. The marketing VP and the IT head sign the Asana decision, and if nobody signs, nothing changes. Jira is engineering's system of record.
• For video meetings in the same example (not shown on the visual page), the decide-by date had passed, so that cycle trims seats and the move is tested again the next year.

Figures on the page, with their captions

Each figure on the visual page has one caption. It takes no room on the page: it shows when a reader points at the figure, or taps it on a touch screen. The caption of each example figure is labeled "Example data". The figures build up as a reader reaches them, and each comes to rest on the complete figures given in this file. With reduced motion set, each figure shows its complete state at once. The captions read as follows.

• Hero, the saving as a formula. Example data. One company of 3,400 people. Five paid sources do work management, and three can end, worth $188,400 a year. In this example the Found figure is $115,224 a year, and the switch costs $128,974, once.
• One job, five paid sources. Example data. Five paid sources do one job, and 1,282 people are paid for twice. One notice date has already passed. Miss the next and that contract runs another year. Each dot is 10 people, and each ring is 10 people paid for twice.
• What a saving is made of. Asato's method. Each term of the formula is one question. Asato answers all three from the customer's own records.
• Question 1, each job by paid sources and spend that can stop. Example data. Sixteen jobs, placed by the number of paid sources and by the spend that can stop. Four make the shortlist, with $637,600 a year that can stop. That is not yet a saving: who can switch is still unknown.
• Question 2, who can switch to the standard. Example data. Of 503 Asana and Smartsheet seats, 337 people move to Planner, 108 are tolerated for a stated reason and 58 unused seats go. Found: $115,224 a year. The switch costs $128,974, once.
• Question 3, back from the notice date. Example data. The $115,224 a year is Found, then Approved when the budget owners sign, then Saved, by agreement with the customer, when the July 1 and November 1 invoices show 68 and 40 seats. The company is $13,750 behind after one year and $101,474 ahead after two.
• CDW, applications found. CDW's data, rounded. In four weeks, across five source systems, Asato found 600+ paid applications and about 1,200 that nobody had approved. Each square is about 100 applications.
• Sanjay Sood's quote. Sanjay Sood, SVP and Chief Technology Officer, CDW.

Inside the figures, a green ring marks a Found figure, a dashed ring marks an Approved figure and a solid green mark is a Saved figure.

Measured results

Each figure is from one customer. Found, Approved and Saved are reported separately.

• CDW. In a four-week engagement across five source systems, Asato found 600+ paid applications and about 1,200 unapproved applications. Ten vendors hold 71% of CDW's SaaS spend, which is a Measured figure, and in the long tail behind them Asato found 150+ applications to freeze or reuse. These are Found figures. No Approved or Saved figure is published for this engagement. Findings were ready for CDW's CIO four weeks after the first connection, which is a Measured figure, and the evidence reached a renewal before it closed. Each action waits for a person at CDW to approve it. Sanjay Sood, SVP and Chief Technology Officer, CDW: "A complete, unified view of our tech estate in just weeks."
• A multi-site health system. It had ten times more applications than its team had counted. This is a Measured figure. The health system is described, not named.
• An enterprise with 75,000 Microsoft seats. The Microsoft products on its contract were cut from 24 to 20 before its renewal. On the visual page this line sits under the first question, with the sentence "A contract that covers several jobs is reviewed whole." and a link to the Right-size Microsoft page: https://www.asato.ai/right-size-microsoft

Market context, with sources

• 74% of technology purchases are funded at least partly by business units outside IT, and 26% are funded entirely by the IT organization. Gartner survey of 1,120 respondents, published March 13, 2022: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-03-13-gartner-survey-finds-rise-in-business-technologists-is-driving-funding-for-tech-purchases-outside-of-it
• Gartner predicts that by 2027, 75% of employees will acquire, modify or create technology outside IT's visibility, up from 41% in 2022. Published March 28, 2023: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-03-28-gartner-unveils-top-8-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2023-2024
• The average number of apps each company uses reached 101. Okta, Businesses at Work 2025, from anonymized data on Okta's customers, published March 12, 2025: https://www.okta.com/newsroom/articles/businesses-at-work-2025/
• Notice of non-renewal is due at least 30 days before the renewal under the standard terms of Asana and of Smartsheet. Asana Subscriber Terms: https://asana.com/terms/subscriber-terms and Smartsheet User Agreement: https://www.smartsheet.com/legal/user-agreement
• On a Microsoft subscription bought through a partner, the number of licenses can be decreased only within the first seven days after they are added, and then not until renewal. Microsoft Learn, Partner Center: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/customers/create-a-new-subscription
• On average, 48% of companies achieve their cost savings targets. Companies that treat cost as an always-on process achieve 62% of their savings targets, against 43% for one-time programs. BCG survey of 770 executives in Europe, the Middle East and South Africa, published November 18, 2024: https://www.bcg.com/press/18november2024-companies-cost-savings-targets
• Across 24 US federal agencies, products bundled into one license were not priced separately, and none of nine agencies reviewed in depth had fully determined whether it held too many or too few of its most widely used licenses. US Government Accountability Office, GAO-24-105717, published January 29, 2024: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-105717

Who uses it

• CIO: gets a shortlist of jobs paid for more than once, with a decide-by date on each.
• Application or portfolio lead: runs it. Each tool carries a recommendation, the evidence behind it and the people it affects.
• Procurement: gets each notice date, and the seat count to take into the renewal.
• CFO: signs. Found, Approved and Saved are reported as separate figures, and a saving is counted as Saved only when the invoice has changed and the customer and Asato agree the figure.
• Owners of each tool: confirm what the tool is for, and decide.

How a customer starts

Section heading on the visual page: "No savings, no fee." The line under it: "Your Asset Clarity Report: a priced list of savings, in one week."

The action: the button "Get your Asset Clarity Report", which leads to https://www.asato.ai/talk-to-sales. The line under the button: "Read-only access to your identity, finance and contract records. Nothing is installed."

The offer: one area, one week, read-only access, and the Asset Clarity Report. Asato's fee is a share of the savings. If it finds no savings, the customer pays nothing.

Trust and governance

• What Asato reads. Records about technology: identity, license, usage, finance and contract records. Asato never reads employees' documents, email or messages.
• Read-only by default. The one-week Asset Clarity Report is built with read-only access. Write access is added where the customer grants it, one system at a time.
• Named approval. Nothing changes until a named person approves it, and every action is logged. A person the customer names approves each fix, or sets a policy that governs fixes of that kind.
• Surveys. A survey runs only after the customer's admin approves it. Owners state what a tool is for, and a sample of users answers three to five questions. Results are shown as group totals, never by name. In the European Union, a works council may need to agree before any per-person analysis.

Works with

• Identity and access systems, for who holds and uses each tool.
• Finance, procurement and contract systems, for what each contract costs and when it renews.
• The admin records of the tools themselves, for seats assigned and used.

Compared with tools a buyer already owns

A customer keeps every system it runs today.

Questions

The page shows at most five questions, the ones that belong to it. Any others are kept here for agents.

The visual page shows five of the questions below: the first three, "Why does a product inside a suite save nothing?" and "Does switching always pay?".

We already have a list of overlapping applications. What does Asato add?

The part that can stop. A list sorted by category counts the applications that share a label. Asato counts the contracts that deliver each job, leaves out the suite the customer keeps, prices the switch, and puts an owner and a decide-by date on each decision.

Does Asato decide which application goes?

No. People decide. Asato recommends, in the terms of Gartner's TIME model: Tolerate, Invest, Migrate or Eliminate. The owner of each tool confirms or edits the recommendation, and the budget owners sign it. If nobody answers, nothing changes. Keeping two tools for a stated reason is a valid answer. For the seat changes that follow, a person the customer names approves each fix, or sets a policy that governs fixes of that kind.

What happens to the applications nobody approved?

Each gets an owner and a rule. Asato lists them beside the paid ones. Each gets a named owner, who approves it, moves its people to the standard, or retires it. Free and expensed tools have no company contract to end, so Asato counts no saving on them. The standard for each job becomes the rule for the next request.

How does Asato find applications nobody approved?

Asato matches records from identity, finance, contracts and the network. An application that one team signed up for shows up in those records even when IT holds no record of it.

Why does a product inside a suite save nothing?

Because the invoice stays the same. A suite is one line on the invoice. If the customer keeps the suite, dropping one of its products leaves that line as it was. So Asato reviews a suite as one contract: which products are needed, how many licenses, and on which tier. In 2024 the US Government Accountability Office found, across 24 federal agencies, that products bundled into one license were not priced separately.

When does a saving count as saved?

When the invoice shows the new seat count or price. Until then the figure is Found, or Approved once a named person has signed. A Saved figure is agreed jointly by the customer and Asato at the close of the engagement.

Does switching always pay?

No. The cost to switch is subtracted before a saving is stated. In the example on the page, the switch costs $128,974 once against $115,224 a year, so the company is $13,750 behind after one year and $101,474 ahead after two. Where the cost is higher than the saving, the answer is to keep the tool, with a reason and a review date.

Does Asato give notice or negotiate with the vendor?

No. Asato prepares the evidence and the dates. The customer gives notice and negotiates.

Does Asato survey employees?

Only with the customer's approval. Usage data answers most questions with nobody contacted. Where it cannot, the customer's admin can approve a short survey. Results are shown as group totals, never by name.

What access does Asato need?

Read-only by default. The Asset Clarity Report is built with read-only access to records about the customer's technology: identity, license, usage, finance and contract records. Asato never reads people's documents, email or messages. Write access is added where the customer grants it, one system at a time.

What does it cost?

Asato is paid mostly on results: a small share when it finds a saving, and the larger share only once that saving shows up on the customer's invoice. The Asset Clarity Report takes one week. If it finds no savings, the customer pays nothing.

How long before the customer holds the list?

One week. CDW's engagement ran four weeks, from the first connection to findings ready for its CIO.

Next step

Get your Asset Clarity Report at https://www.asato.ai/talk-to-sales.

Related pages

• Asato home
• Platform
• Right-size software
• Stay ahead of contracts
• Case study: CDW, SaaS and license visibility in four weeks
• Site index for agents

Last updated: 2026-10-06