The Business Case for a SaaS Management Platform (SMP)

What it Does

SaaS Management Platforms (SMP) enable SaaS Application daily operations including identifying SaaS applications, security management, IT operations, spend management, and vendor management.

Benefits

• Security management reduces non-compliant SaaS Applications and unauthorized access by 80%.
• 2X increase in operational productivity through the use of workflow automation.
• Up to 30% cost reduction by removing redundant applications and underutilized features.

_{Footnote: Benefits based on Analyst and GigaOm experience.}

Urgency

SMPs are critical for SMBs with 50 plus applications, or $500k-plus spend, and Enterprises with 100 plus applications or $3 million-plus spend.

Risk Level

• Medium – SMPs require a cross-functional team, organizational change management, and measurable outcomes to be successful.

30/60/90 Plan

30 Days: Form a cross-functional team, define outcomes, and set a budget. Identify target SaaS applications based on benefits and risks.
60 Days: Define use cases, execute proofs of concept(s), and purchase the platform. Build an organizational change management plan.
90 Days: Pilot platform with a few SaaS applications. Measure outcomes and drive continuous improvement.
SMB: It may be possible to complete these steps in a shorter time frame within smaller organizations.

Time to Value

Focusing on a single widely used application should show results in 90 days. Wider adoption and workflow automation will take six months or longer.