SaaS Security: the traditional IT organization is half broken and requires a new paradigm

This is not a secret that Organizations face a significant shift in the way technology infrastructure and services are managed within organizations, primarily due to the widespread adoption of cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions which cause a SaaS Security Challenge. As per Gartner's findings, 74% of technology acquisitions currently receive funding from business units beyond the IT department, and a significant majority of IT decision makers, accounting for two-thirds, are located in departments other than IT.

Besides, SaaS applications are often designed to be user-friendly and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. This empowers end-users to choose and implement software solutions without heavy reliance on IT departments. Departments or teams within an organization can subscribe to and use SaaS applications independently, reducing the central control traditionally held by IT. This leads to the question of who possesses and manages that technology. Most of the Salesforce Admins I know do not belong to the IT department.

When it comes to SaaS Security, the consequence is very visible even though it has not been accepted yet by many organizations. In the modern landscape of SaaS, managing and securing the growing array of applications has become impractical for a small, centralized team of experts. The rapid adoption of new SaaS tools surpasses the capacity of IT resources. The sheer volume of SaaS adoption poses a significant challenge for IT and security organizations. Additionally, the unique configurations and access controls of each SaaS application, though manageable individually, become overwhelming at scale. Some of our customers have thousands of SaaS and less than 10 people in the IT department….

The only solution that we see is based on collaboration between business users and the IT department. Our strategy for securing SaaS management is based on involving the appropriate stakeholders at the right time, utilizing the channels like Slack or Emails. We deliver pertinent context, queries, and/or instructions essential for accomplishing straightforward yet impactful SaaS security and administration tasks. We help sharing the burden of managing SaaS between IT and Business Groups.