BetterCloud Report: SaaS Adoption Slows Amidst Application Sprawl and Shadow IT Concerns

Research reveals SaaS proliferation remains a top challenge, yet IT professionals are doubling down on automation as a means to manage and secure the application stack

BetterCloud, the leading SaaS Management Platform provider, released its annual report, “2023 State of SaaSOps.”

This year’s survey of more than 740 IT and security professionals reveals the current challenges of managing SaaS at scale, including growing responsibility for securing applications due to shadow IT and SaaS sprawl, and driving employee experience. The report also brings into focus the role of workflow automation and zero-touch IT as a means to driving IT success in 2023 and beyond.

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Key findings of the report include:

1. IT reduces SaaS application redundancy, prompting a decrease in adoption. Over 40 percent of IT respondents said they retired duplicate / overlapping applications. Despite that, the net growth of SaaS apps used was 18 percent year-over-year, with organizations now using 130 apps on average.
   
   
2. SaaS sprawl creates management headaches. 59 percent of IT professionals find SaaS proliferation is hard to manage.
   
   
3. IT is taking control of shadow IT. In response to 65 percent of SaaS apps being unsanctioned, IT is bringing more shadow SaaS apps under its control. 57 percent of IT professionals said their teams have increased the number of SaaS apps they manage and support in the past 12 months.
   
   
4. Security for SaaS apps is increasingly falling on IT. SaaS security is increasingly IT’s responsibility. 43 percent of respondents say they have added a new SaaS app that stores sensitive data in the last 12 months, and 81 percent of IT professionals now say they are responsible for protecting this sensitive data.
5. Employee experience is a new IT mandate. 80 percent say that employee experience is a new charter for IT, and a key driver of initiatives to automate workflows.
6. Automation is key to managing SaaS. An overwhelming 86 percent see automation as critical to overcoming today’s SaaSOps challenges. 71 percent have already automated at least one help desk process, like onboarding or password resets. 43 percent already have a dedicated SaaSOps automation role or team, and another 23 percent plan to.
   
   
7. Visibility and insight into the SaaS application stack persist. Automation is hindered because nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of IT professionals still cite a lack of current information and visibility.
   
   
8. Zero-touch automation is the future. Zero-touch automation is the process of orchestrating automated workflows in order to replace all manual IT touchpoints. 72 percent believe zero-touch automation is the future of SaaSOps, and another 69 percent are working toward zero-touch automation.

“This is our tenth year surveying IT about the SaaS-powered workplace and one thing remains true: SaaS is critical to doing business and to providing a better employee experience,” said David Politis, CEO, BetterCloud. “Yet, in the last few years, the rush to adopt SaaS has outpaced IT’s ability to keep up with management and security challenges. Our research this year highlights these growing pains, but also shows that investments in automation are helping IT stay one step ahead of SaaS application growth.”

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