The Subscription Problem in IT (and How SAM Solves It)

How many subscriptions do you have right now? Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, Prime, Audible, maybe a meal kit or that app you downloaded for a “free trial” and forgot about. These days the list can go on and on. It’s easy to lose track—until the monthly charges start piling up.

Now imagine that same problem at enterprise scale. Thousands of employees, dozens of departments, and countless software subscriptions quietly renewing in the background. Some are heavily used, some overlap with other tools, and some haven’t been touched in months. The result? A budget that looks more like a leaky bucket than a strategy.

That’s where ServiceNow's Software Asset Management (SAM) comes in. It gives organizations a clear view of their entire software landscape—what they own, what they’re actually using, and what they’re paying for. With all that data in one place, companies can finally make smart, confident decisions about their software investments.

Here is a snippet of what that looks like in practice:

• Spotting unused or underutilized subscriptions that can be reclaimed
• Identifying duplicate tools doing the same job
• Preparing for renewals with real usage data, not guesswork

The benefits are huge. Costs drop, compliance risks shrink, and IT spend starts aligning with actual business needs.

I like to imagine every unused subscription as a streaming account no one logs into anymore—it’s still charging your card every month, but no one’s pressing play. With SAM, companies can finally find those forgotten licenses, cancel or repurpose them, and put that money back where it belongs.

In the end, SAM isn’t just about cutting waste—it’s about transforming software from a hidden drain on resources into a strategic advantage. Because in a world full of subscriptions, visibility is everything.