SaaS for SaaS: Can You Have Too Much SaaS?

Before you can evaluate if you have too much SaaS, you have to figure out what you already own. Businesses love SaaS applications. Companies love to buy and sell it. On-premise solutions are quickly becoming something of the past and the future is in the Cloud. These are just some of the reasons that every department in organizations of ALL sizes love SaaS:

• Mobility: They’re applications are available anywhere there is an internet connection
• Collaboration: Easier than ever for dispersed groups of people to meet and share virtually
• Integrated Systems: SaaS applications are easily scaled and integrate into other business productivity systems
• Seamless Upgrades: Providers do all of the work to manage application updates/upgrades
• Deployment Speed: Applications are simplified to deploy and save infrastructure and staff expenses
• Ease of Purchase: Almost anyone can purchase it, even on a company credit card

Now that IT departments have overcome the initial concerns around moving to cloud-based SaaS solutions that were related to the security of data, regulatory compliance, loss of control over IT services, and knowledge and experience of both IT and business managers, the rapid growth of SaaS continues.

Is It Possible to Have Too Much SaaS?

Every shift in technology comes with a new set of challenges. With the explosive growth of SaaS, along with ease of purchase, organizations lack the technology to discover, manage, and optimize their tech investments. It’s time to take a simplified approach and get rid of the internal spreadsheets you’re trying to use to manage your SaaS. With a focused initiative and a SaaS for SaaS platform like Zylo, you can do this in a matter of weeks. Here is how to get started:

• Aggregate and categorize all SaaS/Cloud subscription expenses
• Analyze application categories, functionality and purchasing sources
• Evaluate licenses purchased versus licenses being utilized
• Survey users of each application to gauge the impact of the application
• Proactively manage data-driven contract renewals across the business

Zylo is the leading SaaS for SaaS platform developed to simplify the discovery, management and optimization of SaaS subscriptions within enterprise organizations. According to Gartner, “The proliferation of cloud SaaS solutions triggers the need for CIOs to transition their organization from a technology-providing cost center to a cloud brokerage value center.”

We have not found a ceiling when there may be too much SaaS in an organization, because we find that most tech-forward enterprises have several hundred cloud applications in-use today. It is not really a problem of having too many but making sure each application has a purpose, is being utilized and managed properly to optimize the investment.