How to Run a High-Impact Tech Stack Analysis

Is your organization drowning in software subscriptions? You're not alone. 

Over the last few years, companies have stocked up on tools. A lot of it made sense at the time: support remote teams, chase growth, fix workflow gaps with point solutions. But now, many organizations are at a critical inflection point, where they must optimize costs, without compromising operational effectiveness. 

And all these tools are creating drag. Renewals creep up. Usage trails off. The ROI? Often unclear.

I’ve led procurement teams through these exact moments, where cost pressure hits and leaders suddenly realize: We don’t actually know what we’re spending… or why. And, even if you think you know, you often don’t. 

That’s where a tech stack analysis comes in. And I don’t mean some 3-month transformation project. I’m talking about a focused, actionable review that helps you:

• Understand what you’re using
• Cut what you’re not
• Determine where there may be duplicative spend 
• Get ahead of renewals
• Rebuild leverage with suppliers

This process not only uncovers immediate savings, it helps create rationalization for every single tool you have and creates the beginning of a framework for ongoing spend management. 

Here’s how I help teams do it, and how you can too.

Step 1: Start with Visibility by Mapping Your Current Tech 

You can’t optimize what you can’t see. Begin with a simple spreadsheet listing all your suppliers, along with:

• Supplier name
• Annual spend
• Stakeholder/owner
• Contract end or renewal date

Pro Tip: Even if you only track your top 50 suppliers, this will spark eye-opening conversations. But, don't just focus on your top vendors. Sometimes there's more opportunity in the tail because some tools aren't being used at all. Saving 2-3% on a $100,000 deal is good, but saving 100% on a $10,000 tool that's no longer needed delivers greater impact.

Step 2: Define Supplier Criticality

But don't stop there. The key differentiator in this approach is adding criticality scoring, which transforms raw data into actionable intelligence.

Send each department a short questionnaire for the suppliers they own. Ask three key questions (dropdown or scale 1–5):

1. How critical is this to the business?
   
   • 5 = Mission-critical
   • 4 = Major Impact
   • 3 = Helps run business operations
   • 2 = Nice to Have
   • 1 = No longer needed
     
2. What business goal does it support?
   
   • Tie tools back to core initiatives (e.g., revenue, security, efficiency) and list out what the acceptable goals for your business are, so there is no ambiguity for your team
     
3. How open are we to exploring alternatives?
   
   • 5 = Strongly opposed
   • 4 = Preferably Not 
   • 3 = Indifferent
   • 2 = Open
   • 1 = High priority to replace

It's so interesting when you give a list of suppliers to a stakeholder to go through this exercise. You're going to get some fives, of course, and you're going to get some fours, threes, and you're gonna get some ones and twos, with people saying 'Wow, I didn't even know we're still spending money on that. We don't need that anymore.'

This criticality exercise typically takes stakeholders only minutes to complete but gives you tremendous insight into where to focus your optimization efforts.

Step 3: Identify Overlapping Tools

The software landscape has changed dramatically in even just the last year. What were once point solutions solving specific problems have expanded into multi-feature platforms. Meanwhile, buyers are looking to rationalize their supplier base to reduce management overhead and complexity.

This convergence creates a perfect opportunity to consolidate your tech stack.

With your mapped list in hand, 

1. Look for functional overlap: Group your tools by primary use case (e.g., customer communication, data analytics, project management)
2. Prioritize "point-to-point" overlaps: These represent the quickest wins, two tools doing essentially the same thing
3. Consider platform expansions: Many existing vendors have expanded their capabilities and can now replace point solutions you may have purchased elsewhere

Increasing spend with one supplier also increases your business leverage. Adding a new product to an existing contract can even open the door for you to renegotiate mid-term and right-size overall spend.

Pro Tip: Engage with your account managers and sales reps to discover where feature parity may already exist across your tech stack. Supplier product roadmaps can introduce savings opportunities you might not be aware of.

Step 4: Consider "Build vs. Buy" Alternatives

This one’s often overlooked. In today's environment, where tools you already have can be used in many different ways, it's worth reassessing whether every solution really needs to be externally purchased.

This doesn't mean developing complex in-house solutions. Often, simpler alternatives exist.

Ask:

• Can we handle this with a spreadsheet and some ops effort?
  
• Is the ROI worth the renewal cost?
  
• Would using an internal resource buy us time to evaluate better solutions?

In many cases, this won’t work, but it is worth determining where it will. 

Pro Tip: Consider temporary in-house solutions. Let a tool lapse and handle the work manually for a period. If you decide to return to a solution later, you'll often get better pricing as a "new" customer than you would have as a renewal. And, you’ll have a clearer idea of what really matters in a solution. 

Step 5: Analyze License Utilization

This is potentially the biggest lever for immediate savings. Industry statistics show billions are wasted annually on "shelfware,” licenses purchased but never or barely used.

Request usage reports from vendors or internal admins:

• Who has a license?
• Who’s actively using it (not just binary, but engagement - logins, tasks, output)? The acceptable level of usage will be different for everyone, but define this before embarking on the exercise.
• Who hasn’t logged in for 30+ days?
  

Right-size your licenses before renewal.

• Reclaim unused seats
  
• Offer opt-outs (and cheaper/free alternatives)
  
• Buy for actual usage, not assumed need

Let me share a real example from our own company. We had ballooned from 100 to 200 licenses for a particular tool, and our CFO was concerned about the cost. When we analyzed usage patterns, we discovered half the licenses weren't being used in a way that justified the expense.

We approached those users and said, "Here's how you're using it. Unless there's a compelling reason why you need this license, we're going to reassign it." Only about 10% came back with valid reasons to keep their access.

Interestingly, we also approached the active users and offered them the option to switch to a free alternative, and another 10% voluntarily gave up their licenses. Through this process, we cut our license count in half with minimal disruption.

Pro Tip: You can almost always add more licenses later if needed. It's much harder to downgrade or remove licenses mid-contract, so start with what you know you need now rather than projecting future usage.

Step 6: Look at Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

That $50K contract might be costing you $150K once you factor in implementation, admin hours, and infrastructure fees.

We’ve seen teams overcommit to “cheap” tools that end up pulling multiple engineers into support. Suddenly, that little tool isn’t so cheap anymore.

Factor in:

• Implementation or onboarding costs
  
• Admin support (internal or external)
  
• API/integration or infrastructure costs (e.g., AWS)
  
• Feature tiers that unlock key functionality

This TCO view often shifts the conversation from “cut or keep” to “what’s worth investing in?”

Step 7: Leverage Benchmarking and Data

By now, you’ve likely spotted a few opportunities to optimize. This is where benchmarking data comes in. The right data turns a ‘we think this is high’ into a ‘we know this should be lower.’ That changes everything.

Whether it’s data from Tropic, or at minimum peer intel, understand:

• How do your pricing and contract terms compare to your peers?
• Start understanding what alternative tools offer the same functionality?
• What’s the best-in-class deal for your company size?

Step 8: Strategize for Upcoming Renewals

Renewal negotiations require advanced planning. One of the most common mistakes I see is waiting until the last minute, which severely limits your leverage.

Create a renewal calendar (or use Tropic) showing all upcoming contract renewals for the next 180 days, then:

• For renewals in the next 60 days: Initiate action immediately
• For renewals 60-120 days out: Develop your strategic approach and kick off within 1-2 weeks
• For renewals 120-180 days out: Begin preliminary conversations to understand stakeholder satisfaction and openness to alternatives

If you really want to have good results, you ideally need to be kicking off these renewals on average 90 to 100 days in advance. This isn't happening at most companies.

Pro Tip: In the current market, vendors are pushing unprecedented price increases, we've seen more uplifts in the past year than in previous years combined. Be prepared with renewal caps during negotiation to prevent unexpected cost increases. Set internal expectations that requests must be created by a certain date ahead of renewals. 

Step 9: Create Competitive Tension

This is perhaps the most powerful negotiation tool at your disposal. When vendors know you have viable alternatives, their flexibility increases dramatically.

Because, while vendor margins are important, churn is equally critical to them. They will work hard to prevent losing business when they believe there's genuine risk of you switching.

Here's how to create effective competitive tension:

1. Research viable alternatives with similar functionality
2. Request formal quotes from competitors
3. Be transparent (but diplomatic) with your current vendor about evaluating options
4. Understand feature parity so you can counter claims about unique capabilities

Pro Tip: Don't bluff. The most effective negotiations happen when you've developed legitimate options and are genuinely prepared to switch. This often produces both better pricing and a solution that better fits your needs.

Putting It All Together: Your Tech Stack Analysis Action Plan

Here's a simplified action plan:

1. Create your supplier spreadsheet with criticality scoring (1-2 weeks)
2. Identify quick-win opportunities: unused tools, obvious overlaps (2-3 weeks)
3. Develop your renewal strategy calendar for the next 180 days (1 week)
4. Deep-dive on utilization for your top 10 tools by spend (2-3 weeks)
5. Research alternatives for renewals coming in the next quarter (ongoing)

Remember that this isn't a one-time exercise. The most successful companies incorporate these practices into their ongoing procurement and spend management processes, continually refining their tech stack to match current business needs and market conditions.

The combined impact can be substantial. I've seen companies reduce their software spend by 15-30% through this systematic approach, all while improving overall utility and alignment with business goals.

Need help getting started?

• Schedule a consultation with our team to discuss your specific challenges
• Learn how our platform can provide instant visibility into your software spend