"As SaaS App Usage Soars, Consolidation and Security Concerns Drive Change"

BetterCloud, a cloud service management company, discovered that organizations are increasingly using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps, but the industry is changing due to consolidation and app security concerns. The company's 10th annual State of SaaSOps report, based on a survey of 742 Information Technology (IT) and security professionals, looked into the growing adoption of SaaS, the most pressing challenges confronting IT operations today, and why SaaS security keeps IT staff awake at night. In the last year, 43 percent of those surveyed said they had added a new SaaS app that stores sensitive data, and 81 percent said they are responsible for protecting this sensitive data. The implementation of new SaaS apps was balanced by those that were canceled, with 40 percent reporting that they had retired duplicate and overlapping applications in the last 12 months. The net growth of SaaS apps was 18 percent year-over-year, with organizations now using an average of 130 apps. According to 59 percent of those surveyed, SaaS sprawl is causing management headaches, and SaaS proliferation is difficult to manage. One of the major issues is "shadow" SaaS apps, which are considered a problem by 65 percent of respondents. However, 57 percent reported that their teams' support for the number of SaaS apps they manage has increased in the last year. Eighty percent of respondents cited employee experience as a driving force behind SaaS adoption and changes. Employee experience was also cited as a key motivator for initiatives to automate workflows by those surveyed. Eighty-six percent of respondents emphasized that automation is critical to overcoming today's SaaSOps challenges. Seventy-one percent have automated at least one help desk process, such as onboarding or password resets, and 43 percent have a dedicated SaaSOps automation role or team, with another 23 percent planning to do so. This article continues to discuss key findings from BetterCloud's latest State of SaaSOps report.

SiliconANGLE reports "As SaaS App Usage Soars, Consolidation and Security Concerns Drive Change"