TL;DR
Lead with dollars, not security.
Your CFO doesn't care about SCIM, orphaned accounts, or attack surfaces. They care about cost, efficiency, and risk. This guide gives you everything to get budget approved:
- The formula: (unused licenses × seat cost) + (IT hours × rate) + (compliance gaps × remediation time)
- The benchmark: $12K per app per year (per 500 employees)
- The solution: Stitchflow at <$5K per app
- The template: A one-page CFO proposal you can copy
The delta is your business case.
Reframe the conversation
Your CFO doesn't care about SCIM. They don't care about identity lifecycle management. They don't care about provisioning protocols - and they definitely don't care about the difference between SSO and automated provisioning.
They care about three things:
- Cost (what you're spending today)
- Efficiency (what you could stop spending)
- Risk (what could become a financial problem later)
If you want budget for provisioning automation, the fastest way to lose the room is to lead with security jargon. The fastest way to win is to translate the problem into operating cost and measurable returns.
The wrong way to ask
- "We need SCIM for security."
- "We need to reduce our attack surface."
- "We have too many orphaned accounts."
Finance hears: "IT wants to buy something."
The right way to ask
"We're spending ~$X per year on wasted licenses and manual work we could automate for less than $5K per app."
That's a different conversation. Now you're not asking for a security tool. You're proposing an operating expense reduction with a clear payback period.
SCIM automation isn't a security feature. It's an efficiency play with security benefits. Lead with the dollars.
The cost calculation formula
Here's the simplest way to calculate what manual provisioning actually costs you - per app, per year:
TOTAL ANNUAL COST =
- (Unused licenses × avg seat cost)
- + (IT hours spent on manual provisioning/deprovisioning/audits × hourly rate)
- + (Compliance gaps × remediation hours × hourly rate)
This isn't theoretical. These categories show up across nearly every mid-market environment managing apps without automated provisioning.
You can also use our ROI Calculator to run the numbers for your specific environment.
Industry benchmarks
Use these benchmarks from real data across 27 organizations and 500 manually managed app deployments, normalized to 500 employees:
| Cost Driver | Benchmark (per app, per 500 employees) |
|---|---|
| Unused licenses | 12 licenses × $327 avg = $3,925 |
| IT labor | 101 hours × $60/hr = $6,088 |
| Compliance gaps | 7 gaps × 4 hrs × $60/hr = $1,741 |
| TOTAL | $11,754 |
Round that to ~$12K per app per year (per 500 employees).
At a typical mid-market company with 16 apps outside automation, that's ~$192K/year in operational overhead at 500 employees - and closer to ~$384K/year at 1,000 employees.
That's your baseline: what you're already spending today to operate without automation. For the full methodology, see The 2026 SCIM Gap Report.
The decision framework
Once you've established the cost, walk finance through the options. CFOs like choices - especially when one option clearly wins on ROI.
Path 1: Pay the SCIM Tax
We analyzed 721 SaaS apps. 42% lock SCIM behind enterprise pricing. That means upgrading each app to its enterprise tier to unlock SCIM:
When it works: For 2-3 critical apps where you're already near enterprise pricing and the business is committed long-term.
Why it fails: It doesn't scale. Upgrading a large portion of your stack to enterprise tiers often costs more than the manual work you're trying to eliminate. This is the SCIM Tax - and it's by design.
Path 2: Stay manual
Keep doing what you're doing. Absorb the cost: ~$12K per app per year (per 500 employees) in labor, waste, and compliance cleanup.
When it works: For low-risk, low-volume tools - apps with <20 users, low permissions, and minimal sensitive data exposure.
Why it fails: It breaks down quickly in your core stack. Every manual app becomes a gap that eventually shows up as audit evidence scramble, offboarding mistakes, license leakage, and operational drag that consumes IT time.
Path 3: Automate at scale
Get SCIM-level automation without requiring enterprise upgrades.
Stitchflow delivers automation for any app - even those without SCIM or those that restrict it behind enterprise pricing - for less than $5K per app per year (flat). Works with any plan tier and any major IdP.
When it works: For any app costing more than $5K/year to manage manually - which is most business-critical SaaS.
Why it wins: It's the only path that scales. You get an ROI story finance understands immediately: Manual cost (today) - Automation cost (Stitchflow) = Savings
ROI examples
Finance wants to see the math. Don't argue - show the numbers.
Example 1: Single app (Salesforce)
| 500-employee company | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Current manual cost (Salesforce) | $24,000-$30,000 |
| Stitchflow cost | < $5,000 |
| Net savings | > $19,000-$25,000 |
Result: ~5x return on a single app.
Example 2: 10-app portfolio
| Mid-market company | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Current manual cost (10 apps) | ~$120,000 |
| Stitchflow cost | < $50,000 |
| Net savings | > $70,000 |
Beyond direct savings, automation reduces audit prep time, access gaps and incident likelihood, last-minute access firefighting, and time lost to manual reconciliations.
The math isn't complicated. Manual provisioning costs ~$12K per app per year (per 500 employees). Stitchflow costs < $5K. The delta is the business case.
The CFO one-pager template
Your CFO won't read a 10-page proposal. Give them one page with five sections:
1. PROBLEM
We manage X apps manually. Each one costs ~$12K-$24K per year in IT labor, unused licenses, and compliance remediation (depending on employee scale).
2. CURRENT COST
Total annual impact: $______
(Show your cost formula and your assumptions.)
3. SOLUTION
Automate provisioning for these apps using Stitchflow at < $5K per app per year.
4. ROI
Year 1 savings: $______
Payback period: < 6 months (typical)
Expected return: ~3x-10x depending on app mix.
5. THE ASK
Approve $______ to automate the top 10 apps. Expected return: $______ in year-one savings.
One page. Lead with dollars. End with the ask.
App prioritization matrix
Not all apps are equal. To maximize ROI, prioritize based on three factors:
| Factor | Questions to Ask | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Cost impact | How expensive are seats? How many unused licenses do we find? How much IT time goes into this app? | Higher cost = higher savings |
| Risk level | Does it hold sensitive data? Is it in SOC 2 scope? Would a mistake trigger audit findings? | Higher risk = higher urgency |
| User churn | How often do users join/leave? Contractors? Seasonal staffing? | Higher churn = more manual work |
High-priority apps (automate first)
- Salesforce: $150+ seats, sales turnover, customer data exposure
- Adobe: expensive seats, hidden waste, hard to audit
- Figma: high seat cost, SCIM paywalled (3.4x)
- Freshservice: broad IT footprint, complex permissions
- DocuSign: legal docs and signatures, always audit-visible
Medium-priority apps
- Monday.com / ClickUp / Miro: company-wide adoption, frequent user changes
- Zendesk / Freshdesk: support churn, moderate seat cost, steady provisioning load
Lower-priority apps
Tools with <20 users, low seat cost, minimal sensitive data. Manual may be acceptable here - until churn rises or audit scope expands.
The real point
You're not asking for permission to buy a security tool.
You're proposing to eliminate $70K-$300K+ in operating cost and reduce audit and access risk at the same time.
That's not an IT request. That's a business case.
Frame it that way, and you'll get the budget.
Frequently asked questions
Use the formula: (Unused licenses × seat cost) + (IT hours × hourly rate) + (Compliance gaps × remediation hours × rate). Industry benchmark: ~$12K per app per year per 500 employees. For 1,000 employees, double these costs. Track actual numbers from your license reports, IT time logs, and audit findings for precision.
Jay has been serving modern IT teams for more than a decade. Prior to Stitchflow, he was the product lead for Okta IGA after Okta acquired his previous ITSM company, atSpoke.
