Understanding the Operational Impact of SaaS Adoption

SaaS applications like Salesforce, Zoom, and HubSpot, are the go-to for companies to stay more productive, flexible, and accessible.

The adoption rate of SaaS applications continues to skyrocket. Organizations worldwide reported over 50% of their applications are SaaS based, according to “The Truth About SaaS Security and Why No One Cares … Yet”, a study conducted by Savanta on behalf of Axonius. 

But with employees relying even more on SaaS, it only brings an increase in operational challenges — and complexity — for IT, security, and risk professionals to navigate. 

More SaaS investments = more complexity

The Axonius research found 66% of organizations spend more on SaaS today than they did a year ago. 

But with all the SaaS apps adoption going on, it’s getting harder for these IT, security, and risk professionals to track what’s in their IT environments. And it’s driving a bunch of issues, like:

• Shadow SaaS: The number of  shadow SaaS apps increase when employees use them without IT’s knowledge. And this issue is only increasing. Eighty percent of employees admit they’re using apps that weren’t approved by their IT departments, according to Axonius findings. 
• Redundant apps: Departments across the company might have different SaaS apps that deliver the same functionality, like Google Drive and Box. 
• Inactive accounts: Licenses are granted to users, but they don’t wind up using or needing them.  

This shift to SaaS apps is creating more complexity for IT, security, and risk teams. The Axonius study found that 66% of respondents said SaaS apps have increased the security risk.

Conducting a credible SaaS asset inventory, uncovering security gaps, and managing SaaS configuration are just a few of these issues. 

Some teams are implementing measures to control the complexity in their SaaS environment. In that same Axonius study, 46% of IT and security professionals are rolling out restrictions on non-approved apps to prohibit shadow SaaS applications. 

Even though there’s more investment going into SaaS apps, these teams are struggling to keep up. The Axonius study found some of the reasons were: 

• 28% limited time and resources
• 23% pressure to focus on other issues
• 15% staffing shortages

A modern approach to SaaS management

IT, security, and risk professionals need a way to rein in the complexity of their SaaS environment. A way that’s modern. And one that’ll help them with constraints in their time and resources. 

That’s where a comprehensive SasS management solution comes in. 

The best SaaS management solutions like Axonius provide what IT, security, and risk teams need — a single source of truth.  

These teams discover both known and unknown SaaS applications, connecting the entire SaaS stack. They have complete and actionable visibility into all data types and interconnectivity flows. 

The solution helps mitigate security risks, like identifying misconfigured SaaS settings and suspicious behavior, that put sensitive data at risk. Teams have true visibility into their SaaS stack — like understanding what they’re used for and who’s using them, and finding redundant apps. 

Modern SaaS management solutions like Axonius help these teams with insight on user access and app utilization. This all allows IT, security, and risk teams to gain control over the complexity in their SaaS stack.    

Interested in reining in the complexity of your SaaS stack? Read “Navigating the Complexity of SaaS Management” to learn more.