SaaS app onboarding: 3 important steps

The one thing that remains constant about SaaS apps is change. According to our research, more than 40 percent of the average company’s SaaS stack has completely changed in the last two years. If that’s not complicated enough, the typical midsized company uses 120 apps overall, and sees an average of 2,700 app-to-people connections in their SaaS Graph.

Companies need to master SaaS app onboarding to ensure that people know how to properly and securely use their applications, and are aware of their roles and responsibilities.

Here are some tips on where to start.

SaaS app onboarding

Step 1: Start training on day one

Knowing the ropes of a SaaS app can prove integral to a new hire’s success. Just because someone is a domain expert doesn’t mean they’re familiar with all of your organization’s dedicated SaaS tools. Mastering the art of training starts on a new hire’s first day. If team members are able to use the tools of the trade immediately, they’re more likely to be productive.

When onboarding a new hire, assign her app training to a team member who has become a power user. Have this power user onboard the new hire and give her a product tour, explaining how the tool is relevant to her job. Finally, have the new hire test her knowledge by completing a task under the supervision of the power user, and leave plenty of time to answer practical questions in the weeks to come. Likewise, if there’s an app change, have the account owner run a new app training for everyone in the group.

Step 2: Know your role within the SaaS graph

Remember the 2,700 app-to-people connections we mentioned? Each one of these connections represents a potential point of vulnerability or inefficiency for the organization. For example, people may have different levels of account access for very specific reasons, and these types of controls should remain in place regardless of how many new users are onboarded onto an app.

If there’s a sudden app change, make sure these roles are well documented and understood as a new app is adopted within the organization. No one loves change, but if they’re able to understand exactly how to use the new app, and the reasoning behind their level of access, the process will be much smoother for everyone involved.

Step 3: Embrace account security best practices

There’s good news in the midst of all this change: Across every type of app, certain SaaS security best practices remain consistent. Adopting them should be a matter of policy within your organization, not a matter of individual user choice. For example, two-factor authentication should be required for every account across the board, to provide an extra layer of protection against hackers.

In addition, team members should adopt security practices that seem like second nature. Tools such as password management solutions can help users generate strong passwords without having to think about creating and tracking dedicated passwords. After all, who can keep up with the number of accounts and constant change happening within most organizations?

Final words

A SaaS system of record like Vendr can help organizations manage change dynamics by tracking important data within a single destination.

Most organizations don’t centrally manage IT anymore; everything’s distributed, and for good reason. With stakeholders throughout the organization, apps constantly in flux, and thousands of connections at stake, leaving SaaS management up to chance isn’t something most organizations can afford to do anymore.