To put it simply: proactive ITAM is a strategic advantage. It’s the first step in modernization and plays a critical role in Zero Trust security and managing IT budgets.

In this article we’ll be diving into why you should be prioritizing ITAM, and the role it plays in succeeding as a modern IT leader.

It’s Time to Take ITAM Seriously

We know ITAM feels like yesterday’s news. And while the underlying methodologies remain the same from 20 years ago, the data sets are now different. And the stakes are much greater.

Intentionally or not, all IT leaders are doing ITAM. The problem is most businesses only focus on ITAM in response to an external trigger. For example, a business might deploy an audit in response to a merger, acquisition, sudden growth, or concerns about licensing compliance and true-ups.

Even then, the approach to ITAM is rushed and reactive. It can take months to properly collect and sift through the data to get a full picture of your IT environment, and you still haven’t moved forward on your strategic plans.

Benefits of Comprehensive ITAM

Pushing for a proactive, robust ITAM practice has several big pay offs to IT teams.

1. Modernization: ITAM provides the foundation for any modernization project, including GenAI initiatives. Knowing what your team is already using, what licenses you need, and your security status is essential for a smooth transition. A prime example here is getting ready for Copilot for Microsoft 365. As we’ve reported, doing so is nearly impossible without automated, data-driven insights about your licensing, security score and application usage trends.
2. Cost Management: Effective ITAM cuts costs by eliminating redundancies and optimizing resource usage. That’s something nearly all businesses benefit from. According to our Benchmarks for CIOs report, 97% of servers use less than 25% of available resources, leading to unnecessary expenses on power, cooling, and floor space. Without ITAM, it’s difficult to spot the waste and cut accordingly.
3. Security Posture: Good ITAM highlights blind spots in security – another common challenge for IT leaders. For example, our newest Benchmarks for CIOs report found 60% of endpoints are exposed to critical vulnerabilities. Without a comprehensive asset inventory, you can’t protect what you don’t know exists. We’ve also written previously about the deep connection between ITAM and successful zero trust deployments. By definition, you can’t offer the granular control you need for Zero Trust without detailed visibility.
4. Centralized Insights and Management: Modern ITAM creates a single, centralized source of truth. By consolidating reporting and management, IT teams improve compliance, accelerate decision making, and drive efficiencies – with far less chaos!

It’s Simple: ITAM is an IT Leader’s Best Friend

It’s time to take ITAM seriously. Not only does it lay the groundwork for modernization and enhance your security posture, it also provides significant cost savings. There’s simply no major challenge for IT leaders it doesn’t help address. And there’s simply no IT ambition it doesn’t help you achieve.

How Block 64 Can Help

It’s time for IT leaders to stop guessing, and start managing.

Block 64’s platform tackles the most costly and time-intensive ITAM burdens, including inventory, license compliance, expense management, contracts, and hardware lifecycle. It is trusted by thousands of organizations world wide and used by IT service providers, VARs and MSPs to elevate their assessment services. Visit Block.64.com to see how we make modern ITAM easy with effortless discovery tools, centralized reporting and insight-packed automatic assessments.

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The post Why ITAM is Modern IT’s Secret Weapon first appeared on Block 64.

As SaaS proliferates across enterprises with the rise of hybrid work, it’s important to be aware of the risks and manage accordingly. Here we provide our best advice on modern SaaS management.

Are You Suffering from SaaS Sprawl?

“SaaS sprawl” refers to the uncontrolled and unchecked use of SaaS applications spreading through many organizations. The problem is growing.

According to Gartner, worldwide spending on SaaS tools is expected to reach $243 billion in 2023. This trend highlights the increasing reliance on SaaS applications across various industries. Large enterprises are reported to use around 254 different SaaS applications on average, while smaller businesses also have substantial usage. Moreover, it’s noted that more than half of SaaS licenses are not used regularly, leading to issues such as budget waste and security threats.

Other studies indicate organizations failing to manage their SaaS portfolios effectively are likely to overspend by at least 25% due to incorrect entitlements and overlapping tools. This unmanaged growth poses financial, security, and operational risks.

How SaaS Addresses Your Business Needs

SaaS has taken the headache out of some of the issues with conventional software. Traditionally, software was sold at an upfront cost with ongoing support fees. Usually, it was a perpetual license – where the owner had the right to use the software indefinitely.

SaaS providers use a subscription model, generally a monthly or annual fee. Prices are competitive with on-premises software. Many apps offer a freemium version, which gives free service with limited functionalities. Subscription plans can easily be scaled up or down to accommodate changing business needs.

These apps can be installed and deployed almost instantaneously, without the need for traditional partners or intermediaries, making them much easier to use. SaaS apps are delivered over the internet, eliminating the need for complex installations and updates. They are also generally updated more frequently than non-SaaS software, meaning users have access to the latest features and security improvements.

The Risks that Come with SaaS Sprawl

Despite the many advantages of using SaaS over traditional software, there are plenty of risks.

In addition to excessive amounts of SaaS tools being downloaded at the enterprise level, many business units are purchasing their own subscriptions or downloading freemium tools without IT’s oversight. These unregulated SaaS budgets can quickly grow out of control.

SaaS subscriptions and log-ins also expand the security risk surface. The more SaaS providers used, the more subdomains and APIs are generated to maintain integrations. Your business is as protected from threats as the weakest SaaS provider you are using.

SaaS providers are prone to data breaches, including with the use of single sign-on (SSO). SSO lets users log into multiple applications with one set of credentials, like a Microsoft account. Okta, a SSO provider, saw a series of security breaches last October after what they believe was one of their employees signing into their personal Google account on a company-owned device.

With more SaaS tools being used there is also a greater opportunity for users to work in silos. For example, using a variety of project management tools can create fragmentation and hinder productivity.

How to Take Control of Enterprise SaaS Use

It’s clear that SaaS sprawl is an issue that you should be aware of. Here’s what we recommend as the steps you should take to wrangle SaaS use in your organization.

1. Create a Single Source of Truth and Simplify Subscriptions

It all starts with knowing what you have and what you’re using. Create a centralized database to get a clear picture of SaaS products being used or subscribed to. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

Look for ways to cut waste and simplify apps to manage. Create an inventory of SaaS products and look for application redundancies and instances of low use. For example, you shouldn’t pay for Webex if you have Microsoft Teams. Recognize which teams or departments have the highest costs for SaaS products and investigate. While you should use a data and metric-driven strategy to cut SaaS spending, remember that reducing software shouldn’t negatively impact company growth or innovation.

2. Establish Policies and Communications

Now that you have a clear sense of your SaaS usage, it’s important to establish clear policies and communicate those to employees. Develop guidelines and policies on using SaaS products. Identify vendors of choice for specific job functions and build a roster of approved apps and a blacklist. Provide internal communications on app policies and why they exist. Let people know – you can’t defeat shadow IT without some sunlight. It’s important to also encourage users to have strong passwords and use two-factor authentication.

3. Monitor SaaS Subscriptions and Usage

Continue to monitor how SaaS products are being used monthly on a centralized database such as ours at Block 64. Track SSO logins, last login dates, and last run dates for on-prem software. Identify tenders that overlap and downsize or cancel unnecessary subscriptions. Continue to monitor for unauthorized apps and remediate any overlap.

How Block 64 Can Help

Block 64’s Discovery & Insights platform recently added an innovative feature to help fight SaaS sprawl. Our SaaS Management solution provides detailed visibility into user activities on SaaS apps integrating with popular SSO and OAuth providers. It automatically captures all activity on SaaS apps being logged into using enterprise SSOs, such as EntralD, Google, and Okta.

Authentication logs are aggregated, so organizations can identify which SaaS solutions are being used, by whom, and when. SaaS Management can be used to simplify the inventory, monitoring, and reporting of apps for you to take action sooner.

Want to learn more? Request a free trial and demo, or contact our sales team to learn more about how Block 64 can transform your SaaS management, today.

The post How to Take Control of Enterprise SaaS Sprawl first appeared on Block 64.

(Currently, Block 64 supports integrations with Microsoft’s Entra ID. Support for other SSO platforms such as Google and Okta is planned for subsequent releases.)

From Active Directory to Comprehensive Cloud Visibility

Traditionally, Active Directory served as the backbone of enterprise discovery processes, enabling IT teams to catalog and manage on-premises devices and user accounts. However, as organizations increasingly adopt cloud services, gaps have emerged in discovery capabilities. Easy to procure but hard to track, cloud services prove difficult to for IT teams to govern, leading to incomplete IT Asset Management and potential security vulnerabilities.

Recognizing this shift, Block 64 developed Saas Management to inventory the broad spectrum of enterprise IT assets.

By aggregating authentication logs from SSO and Oauth providers, organizations can identify which products are being used in their environment, which users are leveraging them, and when the products are being leveraged. This data is essential for managing SaaS products and addresses the critical need for a holistic view of both cloud and on-premises resources, ensuring no asset goes undiscovered.

Deep Dive into SaaS Management: Setup, Functionality, and Benefits

SaaS Management is designed for flexibility and ease of use, supporting both simple and custom deployment options to meet diverse IT infrastructure needs. By incorporating SSO and OAuth data, SaaS Management enables enterprises to:

• Identify and catalog which third-party SaaS applications are in use, who is using them, and how frequently
• Enhance security posture by identifying unknown or malicious products that are being accessed in your environment
• Simplify the user experience by offering a unified platform for discovering and managing IT assets across all environments

Setting up SaaS Management is simple, and can be customized to meet your organization’s needs. For a more technical look at what’s involved, please read our support article, here.

Stay Ahead in the SSO Era with Block 64

SaaS Management by Block 64 marks a significant step forward in our commitment to evolving alongside the IT landscape, ensuring enterprises have the tools they need to manage IT assets effectively. By embracing the shift to cloud-based SSO technologies, organizations can enjoy enhanced visibility, security, and management of their digital environments.

Ready to Experience the Future of IT Discovery?

Uncover the full story of your IT environment (or your customers’) with Block 64 SaaS Management. Set up a demo or contact our sales team today to learn more about how Block 64 can transform your IT asset discovery and management strategies.

The post Introducing SaaS Management: Bridging the Discovery Gap with Block 64 first appeared on Block 64.