Best SaaS Management Software for 2023

What is SaaS management?

SaaS management refers to managing SaaS tools that you use in your organization. It helps identify applications that are not generating enough value and those your teams are not using very often.

With proper SaaS management, you can save hundreds of dollars (if not thousands) every month. Another advantage of SaaS management is that it helps identify potential overlaps between tools (and their features) used by different departments.

What is SaaS management Software?

SaaS management software is a tool that makes it easier to keep track of and manage all the cloud-based systems that you use. A SaaS management system helps you understand which SaaS tools are being used in your organization, how they’re being used, and what kind of data the system has access to.

The primary advantage of a SaaS management platform is that it gives you a 360-degree understanding of your SaaS ecosystem. It also helps identify ways to reduce your software spending significantly.

Criteria to Compare SaaS Management Platforms

No two SaaS management tools are built equally. Therefore, you need to compare them carefully to pick the best one for your business. To make things easier for you, we have collated a list of comparison criteria that can help you select the best SaaS management software.

1- User Interface (UI)

You would want to invest in a SaaS management platform with a clean user interface and easy to navigate. Good UI makes it easy for your employees to use the product. In addition, it should tell you what to do next or where to find necessary features.

A tool with a good UI also reduces the confusion and frustration associated with figuring out how to use the tool, increasing the adoption rate.

Since most SaaS management platforms offer a free trial, use them to determine if you like their UI.

2- Usability

Once you’ve shortlisted SaaS management platforms based on their user interface, it’s to analyze their usability.

Here are a few questions that will make it easy for you to decide.

• Does the SaaS management software allow you to manage various tools?

• Does the company have a knowledgeable support team? Do they have self-help options like knowledge base, tutorials, and training videos?

• Does the tool have a high learning curve?

Answering these questions will help you choose the best SaaS management software for your business.

3- Integrations

A SaaS management solution that integrates with your existing business tools is crucial. For instance, you’d want it to sync the total software cost with your accounting software for easy finance management.

Also, when your SaaS management software integrates with other cloud-based tools, it gets easier to manage permissions, onboard/offboard users, and ensure compliance from one place.

Therefore, check how easy it is to integrate your business tools with the SaaS management system.

4- Automation

Automation makes things easier and saves time. The best SaaS management software should automatically discover all the applications you use in your company. It should also categorize them in the appropriate category.

Compare the automation capabilities of all the SaaS management tools you have shortlisted to determine which one offers the best value for money.

Saas Management Software Key Features

SaaS management software offers a wide range of features to help you get the most out of your investment. However, you must look for the following saas software management features before choosing.

1- Automatic Discovery of SaaS Products

As mentioned above, automation is the critical comparison criteria for choosing the right SaaS management platform vendor. Here’s why.

When you use hundreds of SaaS tools in your organization, it can become challenging to enter the details of each vendor manually. Therefore, you need a SaaS management platform that can find all the SaaS tools you use.

Also, as you invest or remove SaaS tools, the platform should be able to detect them automatically. This will keep you updated with the cost spent, enabling you to manage your finances better.

2- User Management

Your SaaS management software tracks who uses what software and for what purpose. This will ensure only authorized users have access to sensitive company information.

3- Broad Vendor Integrations

As discussed before, integration is a vital feature of a SaaS management system. It should work seamlessly with multiple, single sign-on (SSO) systems, HR software, ERP software, and CRM applications.

Broad vendor integration ensures easy access, management, and measurement of SaaS applications. It also drives error-free outcomes when calculating your company’s SaaS expenses.

4- Top-Notch Security

The heightened risk of cyberattacks has made it critical to choose a SaaS platform that offers top-grade security. But, at the same time, you need a tool that helps you comply with necessary regulations.

Thus, choose a SaaS management platform that uses SSL encryption and has an advanced server infrastructure. Also, check if it is compliant with SOC 2 and GDPR.

Additionally, there's nothing like it if the tool uses superior AES-256 cryptographic libraries.

5- Analytics and Business Intelligence

A SaaS management platform with advanced analytics and intelligent tools improves spend transparency and provides in-depth usage insights.

However, the management team shouldn’t have to spend a lot of time analyzing and understanding the data. Instead, this should be delivered in an easy-to-consume dashboard with visualizations.

Why Deploying SaaS Management in Business Makes Sense?

Since the pandemic started, most Saas companies have migrated their on-premise systems to the cloud. According to Statista, in 2021, organizations globally were using an average of 110 SaaS applications.  Managing so many applications can be challenging and time-consuming.

Besides, SaaS spending quickly becomes a wastage that is often overlooked. According to Flexera’s State of ITAM Report 2022, 29% of SaaS software spending is underutilized or wasted.

However, a SaaS management system can make things easier for you. It acts as a central hub for all the tools you use, giving you a birds-eye view of your investments. You can quickly identify the tools that your team is not using often and cut on them to save money.

Here are some more reasons to deploy SaaS management in your organization.

1- Get a Full Picture of What’s Being Used

The primary benefit of SaaS management is that it helps you better understand which tools your employees are using across all teams and departments. This promotes complete transparency and enables you to track how your SaaS budget is spent on cloud services.

For instance, when you start looking at your employees' tools, you might find your marketing team is using one SEO tool while your content writing team is using another. This makes it easier for you to see the overlap to consolidate them and use one tool across all departments.

2- Know Who Has Access to Which Applications

To safeguard your data and prevent insider threats, you need to know who has access to applications and how they’re being used.

This means that you’ll know which employees log in to which applications and how often. This, in turn, will help you:

• Stay compliant

• Reduce the risk of a data breach

• Automate employee onboarding and offboarding

• Save money

Since you’ll have complete information about who is using what, you can turn off their access and cancel login credentials when an employee leaves the organization. This eliminates the risk of insider threats and frees up seats in your software license for other employees.

3- Define Administrative Controls

A continuation of the previous benefit, SaaS management helps understand and define policies regarding who has access to SaaS management apps and to what extent. In addition, your SaaS systems should allow you to set up role-based access.

This, in turn, will give you peace of mind that no one has access to data that they shouldn’t have. Also, you should be able to revoke access when necessary.

For example, you wouldn’t want end users on your marketing team to access your critical financial information. That access needs to only stay within the accounting department and the management team.

4- Improve Transparency Regarding Contract Management

Last but not least, SaaS management allows you to manage all your SaaS contracts and subscriptions throughout their lifecycle in one place. As mentioned before, SaaS management also helps identify ways to consolidate subscriptions where the usage is overlapping.

Besides, when you have a centralized location for all vendor contracts, you can easily:

• Avoid missing renewal or cancellation of SaaS tools.

• Ensure you don’t get stuck with contracts you don’t want to renew.

• Update authorized people to make necessary changes to SaaS tools and licenses.

• Identify SaaS tools that might need an upgrade.

What are the Benefits of SaaS Management Platforms?

If you’re interested in gaining complete control over the tools you use in your organization, here is how SaaS management software can help you.

1- Get Birds-Eye View of Your SaaS Tools

The best SaaS management software allows you to create custom workflows that streamline your entire operations. It works as a centralized hub for managing everything, including the list of software you have invested in, spending, usage, and data security.

SaaS tracking software uncovers the following data elements:

• Total number of SaaS applications

• Total number of SaaS licenses and users

• Spending per application

• Total spend annually

• Security and compliance profile

• Application usage (user engagement)

• Application category (and department that uses it)

• Type of purchase

• SaaS renewal periods and contract terms

2- Manage Employee Onboarding and Offboarding

Give or remove access to your employees to specific SaaS tools using SaaS management software.

It can help identify employees who have left the organization but still have access to sensitive information.

When new employees join your organization, you can use the same SaaS management software to give them access to necessary tools. You can also manage what information they can access in the SaaS platform.

3- Optimize Your SaaS Spending

As mentioned above, SaaS business management software allows you to optimize your spending and maximize ROI.

You can check all the tools you’re spending money on and determine which ones overlap. You can also check which tools your employees are not using very often to decide which contracts you don’t need to renew.

In a nutshell, you can optimize your SaaS spending with a SaaS subscription management software in the following ways:

• Identify and remove overlapping SaaS tools

• Negotiate with overpriced vendors

• Control unmanaged applications - shadow IT

• Identify and remove excess licenses

• Plan for renewals in advance

• Accurately forecast & budget SaaS spend

4- Identify Security Gaps and Ensure Compliance

The best SaaS management software gives you complete control over SaaS security threats with shadow IT discovery. In addition, you can track all the SaaS purchases across departments, even those bought through corporate credit cards.

Also, complete visibility into SaaS tools makes it easier for you to identify vendors that comply with your company’s policies and regulatory requirements, such as GDPR, SOC2, and others.

Latest Trends in Saas Management Software

1- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Will Shape the Industry

AI and ML have already been integrated into SaaS management platforms. However, in the coming years, we can expect them to provide an advanced degree of personalization (using NLP) and speed up SaaS systems management.

AI-based SaaS business management software can also help identify tools with the highest/lowest engagement, emerging interests, and behaviors. This will make it easier for you to identify tools worth investing in.

2- Centralized Analytics

Industry experts believe that investment and value in analytic-centric SaaS models will rise by 23.3% by 2022.

This indicates that in 2022 and beyond, the demand for SaaS service management software with advanced analytics will dominate the market.

Centralized analytics provides you with a Nsingle source of truth and makes it easier to manage all the SaaS tools you use in your business.

3- More Automation is Available

With the advancement of technology, businesses are expecting more automation capabilities.

The most significant advantage of automation in SaaS management platforms is that it helps save time and effort in doing necessary tasks.

The best SaaS management platforms regularly update their technology to add new automation features to attract more customers. This SaaS management trend will likely continue for the foreseeable future.

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