Raeburn Research · Framework 2026
SaaS Duplication Risk Framework
A structured way to distinguish genuine technology waste from overlap that has a legitimate operational purpose. This is a methodology publication, not a claim about market-wide average waste.
Functional overlap
How many tools serve materially similar jobs, and whether the overlap is intentional resilience or accidental duplication.
Licence utilisation
Whether paid seats/features are actively used and whether entitlement exceeds operational need.
Integration duplication
Whether multiple tools create redundant connectors, sync jobs, middleware or manual reconciliation.
Data fragmentation
Whether customer, employee, operational or reporting data is split across competing sources of truth.
Administration burden
Time spent provisioning, supporting, renewing, reconciling and governing multiple tools.
Security surface
Additional identities, OAuth grants, vendors, data copies and privileged integrations introduced by the duplicated estate.
Exit friction
Contract, export, workflow, data-model and customisation barriers that make consolidation harder later.
Business criticality
Whether apparent duplication actually supports resilience, regulation, customer segregation or another justified requirement.
Suggested scoring
Score each dimension 0–5, where 0 means no material concern and 5 means severe evidenced risk. Do not simply add scores and call the result a saving. High scores identify where usage telemetry, contracts, interviews, architecture and security evidence should be investigated.
Evidence hierarchy
Prefer billing and entitlement exports, platform usage telemetry, integration inventories, source-of-truth mapping, administrator interviews and contract terms. Estimates should be labelled and separated from observed evidence.
Limitations
The framework does not establish causation, guaranteed savings or a universal benchmark. Consolidation can increase concentration risk, migration risk or loss of specialist capability. Decisions should include security, resilience, legal, operational and exit considerations.