What is SaaS App Management?

SaaS applications management(SAM) is a proactive business solution that monitors and manages any purchase, licensing, maintenance, renewal, security compliance, and offboarding of cloud-based software-as-a-service applications within a company’s portfolio.

A good SaaS app management system for your organization is a long term investment in terms of optimizing your SaaS spend, maximizing your ROI, adhering to security compliances, and leveraging your cloud-based investments. 

SaaS has undoubtedly become the face of modern software as more companies are embracing the advantages of cloud and subscription-based access. Gartner says that Software as a service (SaaS) is currently the largest market segment and is forecast to grow to $104.7 billion in 2020. The very thing that makes the SaaS model the most preferred choice presents the biggest problems for enterprise IT: quick access and easy to setup. Anybody with a credit card and email address can acquire the subscription. This has left the enterprises that are trying to stay on top of their game in terms of managing licenses, agreements, and keeping the corporate data secure in a fix.  

Gartner, the leading global IT research firm, estimates that the annual cost of purchasing and managing software applications and licenses can be as much as four times the cost of the initial purchase. Companies spend up to 75 percent of their total IT budget just to maintain and run existing systems and software.

4 Main Challenges of managing SaaS

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SaaS App Management: An elixir to SaaS chaos

Get ready to put a check on wasted saas spends, streamline your saas applications management, and leverage your IT budget for business transformational efforts. A solid strategy is critical to gain control and increased visibility over your SaaS applications and licenses. Here are a few measures that can help organizations get a hold on their saas usage, save money on redundant applications, and achieve expertise in SaaS applications management.

 

1. Secure your Saas Accounts

Saas applications are of tremendous help to organizations because of their scalability, simplicity, and lower upfront costs. However, Due to shadow IT, end-users often procure licenses and applications without formal authorization by the IT department, leading to a security blind spot. This pushes the organizations into the risk of exposing themselves to proprietary data theft, resulting in enormous regulatory compliance risk.

 

Establish a regular security check protocol to ensure saas applications and software in use are risk-free to the organization.

Ensure that your organization complies with GDPR, HIPAA, and other regulations to protect the organization’s integrity and confidentiality.

Educate your end-users on the risks associated with unauthorized apps and licenses.

 

Dedicate a team that works on all the security blind spots within the organization.

 2. Optimize your SaaS Spend

Ask yourself if each application and license that is procured is used to its 100% capability. Are you providing top-tier feature packages to all your employees regardless of their requirements? Is your organization a victim of hidden saas expenditures?

SaaS is easy to procure and deploy, anybody with an email ID and a credit card can do it in a jiffy. But the problem with saas is, it proliferates. Most saas applications that are procured, are not even used. This results in saas expenditure spinning out of control. 

 

Reduce saas redundancy.

Acquire a solid saas license management strategy.

Educate your users on how to improve saas adoption and engagement.

Renegotiate with your vendors on your contractual terms from time-to-time.

Invest in Automation to Streamline saas applications and license procurement and renewal Processes.

3. Uncover the Shadow SaaS

Employees often buy licenses and applications without formal approval from IT, thanks to the common notion that IT processes are time-taking and troublesome. For most employees, Shadow IT is merely meant to fulfill their duties most effectively and efficiently possible. This results in painful challenges like redundant saas subscriptions, unauthorized applications hosting your proprietary data, increasing security, and regulatory risks.  

 

Keep track of all your saas applications and licenses: authorized, unauthorized, approved, or not.

Identify shadow saas applications.

4. Manage your SaaS Renewals

Managing saas licenses demand attention to detail. It is never easy to have complete visibility into your organization-wide cloud-based purchases and renewals. The more SaaS licenses and applications your employees procure, the tougher it is to maintain. These SaaS purchases, renewal contracts, or licenses have endless billing rules, contract lengths, and difficult-to-comprehend terms.

A definite SaaS renewal process is crucial to overcome these hurdles and bring savings to your organization.

 

Determine the purchasing department and individual owner for each saas application.

Gain visibility into all Saas/cloud-related spend.

Keep track of all the contracts and contract details for easier management.

Maintain a calendar with renewal details, important dates, and auto-renewals.

Create an automated process for purchasing Saas/cloud applications and licenses.

Ideally, organizations need a single source of truth to achieve increased visibility and control over cloud usage, where you can right-size your saas spend and ensure increased security. Talk to our SaaS experts at Freshservice to choose the right SAM solution that fits your organization like a glove.