Key Points:
- SaaS Operations is critical to maintaining the health of your SaaS ecosystem
- The best tool for optimizing your SaaS is a SaaS Management Platform
What is SaaS Operations?
SaaS Operations, or SaaSOps, is the management and optimization of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications within an organization. The goal of SaaS Operations is to efficiently manage, optimize, and integrate the use of SaaS applications within an organization to achieve the following objectives:
- Streamlined management of apps to reduce complexity and enhance efficiency.
- Find and leverage cost savings by monitoring and optimizing SaaS subscriptions.
- Improve security and compliance by maintaining data protection and privacy regulations and industry-specific standards.
- Better user provisioning and access control by automated user onboarding and offboarding to further reduce risks and costs
- Ability to scale SaaS adoption and use it for more capabilities and better productivity
Ultimately, these tasks heavily rely on robust and flexible automation, the key ingredient to any SaaS Operations Management System—also known as a SaaS Management System.
SaaS Operations is Like a Garden
To better understand SaaSOps, think of your company’s SaaS ecosystem as if it were a garden filled with various veggies, fruits, and flowers—each one representing a different application.
Like a well-tended garden, an effective SaaSOps strategy requires constant care and attention.
Planting Season: Application Evaluation and Selection
Did you know that some plants will compete for both nutrients and space? If you plant asparagus and garlic next to one another, the asparagus probably won’t survive. It’s the same with your applications. During that evaluation period, ensure your apps won’t compete with existing tools for limited resources. A great example of this is automation tools. Often, these types of tools can interfere with one another and either and wreak havoc on a carefully constructed workflow—so pay attention!
Plant Timing and Placement: Implementation and Configuration
Each plant needs a certain amount of time and space. Different fruits and veggies will bloom and ripen at different points of the year, so make sure you allocate the right amount of time for the proper implementation and configuration of your apps—don’t rush it if you want a long—bountiful ROI.
Pruning, Trimming, and Watering: Performance Monitoring and Optimization
Once planted, the work isn’t done. Regular check-ins for overall health are essential to a plant’s well-being; the same applies to your apps. Do they see continued use? Proper maintenance when necessary? Is there an assigned app owner to make sure things run smoothly? These are all critical questions for keeping your SaaSOps garden healthy.
Pest Control: Security and Compliance
Just like you must protect your garden from insects, animals, and other threats, your SaaS ecosystem requires vigilance to stay secure. Offboarding former employees, conducting regular audits, and continuous shadow IT discovery are all critical to keeping your company and data secure.
Conclusion
Whether you’re pruning your tomato plants or rightsizing your Salesforce contract, it takes continuous work. But the results are well worth it.
To help get you started, learn how Torii, a G2 Leader for SaaS Ops Management, can power your SaaS operations through comprehensive visibility and automated workflows.
