How to Pick the Right SaaS Management Tool [In 2021]

Looking to get the most out of your SaaS apps? A SaaS management tool is the tech-savvy way to create a reliable ecosystem.
SaaS management tools allow you to optimize your SaaS spend, improve your IT efficiency, and get the most out of every SaaS application.
We’re taking a deep-dive on the most need-to-know information about SaaS management tools, including:
Over the past several years, SaaS has been on the rise. In 2020, SaaS is expected to generate over $105 billion in the US alone.
Companies worldwide are increasingly dependent on SaaS tools to manage their day-to-day work.
In fact, according to the 2020 Blissfully report, the average enterprise company is subscribed to over 288 tools. And this number is growing steadily.
This, in turn, leads to a problem:
Shadow IT is what happens when employees buy SaaS tools and other IT-managed products without running the decision directly through the IT department.
Without IT supervision, employees tend to buy tools that are:
And the more shadow IT you have, the more inefficient your SaaS spending becomes. According to our research, the average company wasted over $135,000 on unnecessary SaaS tools.
However, using a SaaS management platform helps eliminate all this waste and optimizes IT costs.
Here’s how SaaS management tools can achieve this:
But there are several SaaS management tools in the market, so how do you pick the right one for your specific business?
Look for a SaaS management tool with the following features:
The best SaaS management tools come with an automated discovery feature.
The moment you register, the software should automatically search for all the SaaS apps in your inventory and extract the relevant data. This data is then placed into a dashboard.
From then on, whenever you purchase a new app, it’s automatically added to your SaaS management platform.
The SaaS management tool should provide you with a well-designed top-down view of all your SaaS apps.
This gives you access to a wealth of critical information, allowing you to answer questions like:
If your company doesn’t have a clear vendor management system, it’s likely that many a employees across departments and functionalities have the ability to purchase SaaS licenses.
This can easily lead to employees buying redundant or duplicate apps (apps that have the same functionality as apps already owned by your organization).
Your SaaS management tool should allow for vendor approval & management workflow. This way, you’ll be on top of all SaaS purchases and optimize your costs.
When onboarding employees, it’s important to give them access to relevant software tools as soon as possible.
On the other hand, when employees quit, you want to make sure that you offboard them properly and cancel any of their SaaS subscriptions (or transfer them to other employees).
Using a SaaS management tool that allows for onboarding and offboarding workflows can streamline your processes.
For example, you’ll avoid cases like overpaying for an employee’s license after they quit.
For larger organizations, staying compliant with specific regulations is very important. Think, SOC2, HIPAA, GDPR, etc.
The right SaaS management tool provides a top-down view of SaaS app compliance.
Blissfully comes with all the aforementioned must-have features, and more.
You can:
And manage all your technology assets and workflows in one comprehensive IT platform.
Interested? Book a demo now!
Excel is a time-intensive, error-prone tool for SaaS management because:
So, using Excel is a good start to tracking SaaS tools, but it’s not sustainable or scaleable.
By using a SaaS management tool, most of these manual processes are automated. All apps are automatically discovered, leaving minimal room for error. Approvals happen through the same platform, so you won’t need to go back and forth with SaaS app owners.
And finally, you can track your used and unused tools.
Trying out a SaaS management tool. The software can automatically uncover all the SaaS tools you’re subscribed to and then add them to your dashboard.
Whenever an employee purchases a new SaaS license, it’s automatically added to your inventory.
From that point forward, you can:
Just by following these four simple steps, you’ll significantly improve your IT efficiency and optimize spend.