How UXM Helps Companies Eliminate SaaS Waste and Improve Digital Employee Experience

Today’s digital workplace is more app-driven than ever. Companies rely on hundreds — and sometimes thousands — of SaaS, web, and desktop applications to operate efficiently.

But with this rapid expansion comes a costly challenge: unused software licenses and underutilized tools that quietly drain IT budgets.

Most organizations lack visibility into what their employees are actually using. This is exactly where UXM delivers transformative value.

The Hidden Cost of Unused Software Licenses

Organizations depend on a large ecosystem of digital tools, and software licensing now consumes a significant share of the IT budget.

According to the SaaS Security Report by Grip:

Small companies use 411 apps
Medium companies use 582 apps
Large enterprises use 1,437 apps

This represents a 40% increase since 2022 — and yet, despite this explosion, many of these applications are barely or never used.

The result? Significant financial waste.

The Alarming Statistics on SaaS Waste

Industry data shows just how widespread the problem is.

According to a 2Data report:

Businesses use an average of 106 SaaS applications
SaaS accounts for 85% of all business software
49% of SaaS licenses go unused
Companies with 1,000+ employees waste $21 million annually on unused software

These statistics highlight a critical challenge: organizations can overspend significantly simply because they cannot clearly see what is being used — and what is not.

The SaaS Explosion — And Why You Need UXM More Than Ever

As SaaS adoption continues to grow, digital environments have become increasingly difficult for traditional tools to monitor effectively.

For many IT teams, even basic questions can be difficult to answer:

Who is actually using each application?
Which tools are redundant or outdated?
Where should access be removed?
Which subscriptions are consuming budget without delivering value?

Traditional asset management tools often focus on installations, entitlements, or high-level access metrics rather than actual usage and real user activity.

This is the visibility gap UXM is designed to address.

UXM provides visibility into how applications are used across users, devices, and environments, giving IT and procurement teams the data needed to make better software decisions.

How to Monitor Application and SaaS Usage Effectively

Effective application usage monitoring helps organizations:

Understand user behavior — See which applications employees actually use
Identify cost-saving opportunities — Reclaim unused licenses and reduce waste
Spot training needs — Identify applications that require additional onboarding or support
Enhance security — Remove unnecessary or inactive access
Improve operations — Simplify the application environment by removing redundant tools

UXM brings these insights together through Digital Employee Experience (DEX) monitoring and application usage analytics.

Why UXM Is the Modern Solution

1. Real Usage Insights Across Applications

UXM goes beyond identifying whether an application was simply opened.

It can provide deeper insight into how applications are actually being used, helping organizations better understand adoption and employee behavior.

Depending on the application and monitoring setup, this can include visibility into:

Screens, modules, or pages users interact with
Functions and workflows employees use
Tasks that may create friction or slow productivity

This gives organizations a clearer picture of true application adoption, rather than relying only on login or launch data.

2. Analyze Application Behavior at the Activity Level

UXM can provide deeper application insights such as:

Page-level visibility for SaaS and web applications
Workflow-level analytics for business-critical applications
Granular activity tracking
Contextual user behavior insights

This helps IT teams identify:

Underused features
Tasks employees struggle with
Training opportunities
High-value workflows
Application modules that may not be delivering sufficient value

Instead of simply asking whether employees use an application, organizations can begin asking:

How are they using it, and is it delivering the expected value?

3. Reduce SaaS Costs Through Usage-Based Decisions

Better usage visibility enables organizations to identify opportunities to:

Reclaim unused licenses
Right-size subscription tiers
Eliminate duplicate tools
Cancel low-value renewals
Consolidate overlapping applications

Rather than relying on assumptions, IT and procurement teams can make software investment decisions based on actual usage data.

4. Strengthen Security Through Visibility

Application usage insights can also help reduce digital risk by highlighting:

Inactive accounts
Unmanaged access
Shadow IT activity
High-permission applications with limited usage

Better visibility makes it easier to understand which tools and access rights are genuinely needed across the organization.

5. Improve Digital Employee Experience

Software optimization is not only about reducing costs.

UXM also provides visibility into factors that can affect the employee experience, including:

Application performance issues
Network and connectivity problems
Endpoint bottlenecks
Productivity-impacting slowdowns

By connecting application usage with performance and experience data, IT teams can better understand both whether employees use an application and how well that application works for them.

Smarter SaaS. Lower Costs. Better Experiences.

As SaaS environments continue to grow, organizations can no longer rely on assumptions when making software investment decisions.

Unused licenses, overlapping applications, low adoption, and limited visibility can all contribute to unnecessary IT spend.

UXM gives organizations the visibility they need to:

Eliminate SaaS waste
Improve application adoption
Strengthen security
Enhance digital employee experience
Make smarter, usage-backed investment decisions
Understand user behavior at a deeper activity level

By connecting usage, performance, and employee experience data, UXM helps IT teams understand what is actually happening across their application environment — and turn that insight into better decisions.