Today, nearly every software publisher offers some form of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution - ranging from straightforward storage repositories to full-stack productivity and business applications. Unlike traditional software, ...
Blog - December 2024: Learn how effective SaaS management minimizes costs, enhances security, ensures accountability, and streamlines subscription lifecycle processes.
... these services are not licensed but subscribed to, often on a pay-to-play basis. While you don’t retain anything at the end of the subscription, you also avoid the headaches of deploying, maintaining, or removing software on your estate.
Starting a subscription is as simple as providing a credit card number. And it’s this simplicity that presents risks for organizations! If individuals, teams, or departments can procure and use their own software without IT department involvement, then how can you manage it?
Common Issues with SaaS Management
Noventiq encountered a range of issues when working with customers:
- Lack of discovery and identification of SaaS services
- Multiple discrete services performing the same function
- Lack of access control
- SaaS subscriptions accessed with personal email accounts but used for corporate data and services
- Employees who have left the organisation but still have access to SaaS services, and in some cases continue to do so.
- No centralised tracking or accountability for cost
- Over-subscribed or dormant services
- No analysis of the terms and conditions
- Data retention
- Privacy controls
- Cross-border restrictions
Benefits and Challenges
On the plus side, subscriptions offer security in that it’s very difficult to over-consume what you’re entitled to. This means managing SaaS applications is less about compliance and more about cost control. However, the rapid growth of these subscriptions has shifted software cost tracking towards operational expenses (OpEx), with monthly or annual payments based on the number of subscriptions or minimum commitments. This means you pay for the service whether it’s being used or not.
Key Questions for SaaS Management
To effectively manage SaaS, we need to address the following:
- What SaaS services are out there? – How do we find and identify them?
- How are SaaS services chosen? – Are there already services we can access that offer the required features?
- Who is authorized to purchase SaaS subscriptions?
- Who will manage access to these services? – More crucially, if someone leaves the organization, how will their access be removed?
- What type of subscription is being purchased? – Is it role-based, feature-based, or permissions-based?
- What is the measure (metric) used for the service? – Is it per-user, per-logon, per-document etc.?
- What is the payment frequency? – Are there any minimum commitments?
- Who is actively using this SaaS service? – And who has access but isn’t using it?
The Importance of SaaS Management
Getting answers to these questions is why SaaS management has become so important. Effective SaaS management involves People, Processes, and Technology.
People
While it is unlikely that an IT Asset Management (ITAM) team will perform the administration of a SaaS service, they are likely to be responsible for accurate reporting and taking action when something doesn’t adhere to the policies. ITAM teams should identify the owner of a SaaS service to direct all queries and reports. These owners may be responsible for delivering data, such as purchase information, to the ITAM team.
Processes (and Policies)
If your organization does not have policies to prevent employees from purchasing SaaS subscriptions, or at least control how they do it, this requires urgent attention. Processes need to be established for the lifecycle management of SaaS applications, providing guiderails for navigating the various stages of the lifecycle from selection right through to retirement. This approach is likely to be similar to that for non-SaaS software.
Technology
Each SaaS publisher provides some form of portal with details on user access, permissions, and subscriptions. However, these portals are designed for operational administration, not cost control. Strive for a consolidated view of your SaaS subscriptions. This allows you to track costs, access, and consumption in one place, using alerting and reporting to drive strategic decisions and tactical actions.
There are numerous tools on the market that facilitate the gathering and processing of SaaS data. However, it’s important to stress that the effectiveness of any tool is driven by the data provided by the SaaS publisher. If they can’t or won’t tell you the last time someone logged into their service, no SaaS management tool can give you an accurate analysis of consumption.
Take Charge of SaaS Today
The exponential growth of SaaS applications in organizations cannot be left unmanaged. Without action, oversubscriptions, redundant services, and unauthorized access can spiral out of control. Begin by answering the critical questions: What services are used? Who has access? And how are they managed? From there, develop a clear policy framework and equip your teams with the tools and data they need. Proactive management now will save resources, improve security, and ensure long-term sustainability.