Is Your Tech Stack Over Provisioned?
We’ve all been there: you’re looking at your monthly SaaS bill and wondering, "Are we actually using everything we’re paying for?" In the world of Salesforce, it’s incredibly easy to fall into the "Enterprise Trap"...buying the most robust license tier available "just in case," only to realize your users are driving a Ferrari to the grocery store.
I recently worked with a Salesforce Enterprise customer where we did exactly that: an audit that saved a significant budget without sacrificing a shred of utility.
The Discovery: The "Plus" Problem
During a portfolio review, we took a hard look at their Customer Community Plus (CC+) licenses. CC+ is fantastic if you need advanced sharing rules, reports, and dashboards for external users. But after an internal audit and confirmation from Salesforce support, we realized the "differentiator" functions—the ones that make CC+ more expensive—were not being utilized by their customer base.
Let's Do Look at the Math
License Type |
Monthly Cost (per member) |
Annual Total (300 Members) |
| Customer Community Plus | $20 | $72,000 |
| Standard Customer Community | $6 | $21,600 |
| Potential Annual Savings | $14 | $50,400 |
By staying on the higher tier, the company was essentially "gifting" Salesforce $50,400 every year for functionality they didn't actually need.
The Strategy: The "Rights Swap"
With their contract renewal still over a year away, we didn’t want to wait to optimize. I recommended a proactive approach:
- Negotiate a Product Rights Swap: Instead of just asking for a simple discount, we proposed downgrading from Customer Community Plus to Standard Customer Community.
- Reallocate the Savings: We used that $50,400 in "found money" to address shortfalls in other license areas that were actually hurting productivity.
Our hypothesis? We could right-size the environment with minimal functional impact and limited operational risk.
The Result: Mission Accomplished
After rigorous testing, the verdict was in: The downgrade worked. By auditing the actual needs of the population versus the technical specifications of the license, we maintained every bit of the customer experience while slashing unnecessary ongoing costs by over 70%.
The Takeaway
Don’t wait for renewal season to look under the hood. A structured license optimization initiative—focused on eliminating unused seats, standardizing on lower‑cost licenses, and engaging Salesforce at the account level—presents a material cost‑savings opportunity.
While final savings depend on negotiated terms and timing, the opportunity warrants immediate engagement with your Salesforce account representative. If you aren't using the "Plus" features, don't pay the "Plus" price.
Is your Salesforce or HubSpot instance right-sized? It might be time for your own license audit.Feel free to reach out if you want to swap strategies on how to navigate your next "Rights Swap" negotiation!
