SaaS (software as a service) applications are user-friendly, easily deployable, cost-effective, and scalable. But with the list of deployed SaaS solutions growing by the day, organizations need an effective way to navigate the complexities they introduce to spending, security, and compliance. Read on to discover what is SaaS management and find out how a SaaS management platform can let you harness the full potential of your SaaS ecosystem.
What Is SaaS Management?
SaaS management is overseeing and administering your organization’s entire software as a service (SaaS) technology suite. SaaS management helps businesses strategically optimize these tools to serve their business goals. It’s aimed at maximizing return on investment, minimizing risk, and increasing the effectiveness of SaaS for end users and organizations. To implement SaaS management you need tools that extend beyond email and spreadsheets to track your licenses. For example, with an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), you can smoothly and securely integrate your applications, data, and business processes.
What Are the Biggest Challenges of Implementing SaaS?
SaaS tools offer many advantages but can also increase the complexity of managing your organization. Understanding the following challenges is the first step toward implementing effective SaaS management strategies:
Controlling Costs
Managing your SaaS ecosystem means keeping a tight rein on costs, licenses, and subscriptions. Organizations often pay for licenses or subscriptions that either go underused or not at all. It’s common when organizations subscribe to different SaaS platforms with duplicate or overlapping functions.
Shadow IT
“Shadow IT” refers to the use of systems and software within your company without the explicit approval of your IT department. Unsanctioned applications may pose significant risks to network security and data privacy. They can also lead to siloed or dark data and operational inefficiencies.
Complying With Security and Privacy Regulations
Ensuring compliance with regulations such as HIPAA or the GDPR helps you avoid hefty fines and a damaged reputation. However, compliance becomes increasingly challenging as you deploy more SaaS applications, each with particular features.
Integration Problems
Legacy systems are often crucial for your daily operations but may not work well with newer SaaS solutions, leading to inefficiencies, productivity losses, and compromised data integrity. What’s more, if you rely on point-to-point integration to connect your various systems, these can become cumbersome to manage with each new addition to your stack.
What Are the Top 4 Benefits of SaaS Management?
The benefits of a robust SaaS management solution, from cost reduction to enhanced security, can be applied across your organization. Let’s explore these advantages in more detail.
1. Reduce Spending
An effective SaaS management tool, such as an iPaaS platform, will allow you to monitor and measure the usage of all your SaaS applications. You can get granular visibility into who is using what services, where, and how often, and most crucially, discover how much they cost you. You can also identify areas of duplicated functionality, eliminate unnecessary spending on underused services, streamline operations, and ensure every dollar spent on SaaS adds value for your company.
2. Detect and Prevent Shadow IT
SaaS management solutions can also illuminate the shadow IT lurking within your organization and enable you to be confident that all SaaS applications are authorized, secure, and under the control of your IT team.
3. Boost Security and Compliance
Centralized SaaS management solutions can streamline the monitoring and enforcement of security updates across your system. They can also ensure that all data is handled securely, user access is controlled and audited, and compliance with complex and evolving regulations is stringent and up-to-date.
4. Centralize SaaS Integration Monitoring and Control
Integration platforms as a service (iPaaS) like Boomi provide hundreds of pre-built connectors that let you avoid the pitfalls of point-to-point integrations. They ensure your new and legacy applications integrate seamlessly, turning your software stack into an ecosystem of applications, systems, and data. This centralized approach simplifies and streamlines workflows across your organization.
Leading international specialty insurer and reinsurer Convex used Boomi’s platform to integrate multiple applications, accelerate its underwriting processes to just 700 milliseconds, and reduce tasks that previously took days to just 5-10 minutes.
How To Implement SaaS Management Effectively
Implementing a comprehensive SaaS management strategy is the key to unlocking the full potential of these tools while minimizing costs and mitigating their associated security and compliance risks. Here are the essential steps to implementing SaaS management:
1. Evaluate Your Pain Points and Set Objectives
Carry out a thorough audit of your organization’s business processes. Identify weaknesses, bottlenecks, and other areas where improvements are possible. This will help you understand your specific needs and set objectives to help you shape your SaaS management strategy. Whether it’s enhancing collaboration, streamlining project management, breaking down data silos, or automating tasks, a clear understanding of your goals will guide your SaaS selection and management.
2. Itemize Your SaaS Applications
Take an inventory of all the SaaS applications your organization has currently deployed. List and categorize each application’s use case and total cost of ownership (TCO). Determine the value each application brings to your business and look for potential redundancies, underused resources, and opportunities for consolidation.
3. Draw up Oversight Procedures for SaaS Management
Develop detailed policies and procedures for managing SaaS applications to ensure their effective and secure use across your organization.
These guidelines should cover:
- Security of Data, Networks, and Accounts: Implement measures to protect sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access.
- Data Backup and Recovery: Establish protocols for data preservation and restoration in the event of data losses, security breaches, or natural disasters.
- Access Permissions: Define clear procedures for granting, modifying, and revoking access based on roles and responsibilities.
- Regulatory Compliance: Decide how to ensure all SaaS applications comply with relevant legal and industry standards.
- Team Roles and Responsibilities: Assign specific duties related to SaaS management to ensure accountability and efficient oversight.
- User Education: Provide training and resources to educate users on the secure and productive use of SaaS applications.
- Contract Management: Outline processes for renegotiating contracts and authorizing new purchases or subscriptions to optimize spending.
4. Centralize Your SaaS Management
Centralizing your SaaS management through an iPaaS solution can be a game-changer for optimal efficiency and oversight. Such platforms offer a unified interface to:
- Manage all SaaS subscriptions and licenses, ensuring your organization only pays for what it needs and uses.
- Track application usage across the organization to identify trends, redundancies, and opportunities for consolidation.
- Monitor spending on SaaS applications to ensure cost-effectiveness and prevent budget overruns.
- Facilitate the onboarding and offboarding of users, streamlining access as personnel changes occur within the organization.
- Conduct regular security audits and implement comprehensive security policies, such as role-based access control, to safeguard against data breaches.
- Provide analytics and reporting capabilities to offer insights into the use and performance of SaaS applications, guiding informed decision-making.
- Implementing an effective SaaS management strategy is not a one-time effort but a continuous assessment, adjustment, and improvement process. By following these steps, organizations can optimize their use of SaaS applications and stay agile, secure, and competitive.
Nutanix, the leading global provider of hyper-converged IT infrastructure used Boomi Managed Cloud Services to manage complex integrations, save 550 hours a month, and nearly double revenue to $1.58 billion.
Strengthen Your SaaS Management Strategy With Boomi
The challenges of integrating disparate SaaS applications to ensure data consistency and achieve a seamless workflow are significant but not impossible. The Boomi Platform is a cloud-native integration solution revolutionizing how businesses approach SaaS management.
Boomi offers:
Seamless Integration: Data flows smoothly across your SaaS ecosystem, eliminating silos and fostering a unified operational framework.
Data Consistency and Quality: Get accurate, up-to-date, and consistent data across all platforms.
Enhanced Workflow Automation: Boomi empowers organizations to optimize their workflows, freeing valuable resources to focus on strategic initiatives.
Scalability and Flexibility: The Boomi Enterprise Platform is designed with scalability and flexibility to help you stay ahead of the curve.
Robust Security and Compliance: Boomi helps organizations mitigate risks and protect their reputation by safeguarding data and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Find out more about how Boomi helps businesses unlock the full potential of their SaaS investments, ensuring that they remain competitive and responsive in the fast-paced digital economy.