Contact us anytime to know more — Kuldeep K., Founder & CEO CISIN
Is the volume of data your SaaS development is producing overwhelming you? You're not by yourself. Keeping data accessible and secure on top of the additional burden of managing SaaS data can make the task seem extremely difficult.
According to a PwC study, 43% of business executives cite inadequate data labelling and organization as the main obstacle to efficient data management.
Software as a Service (SaaS) apps have become a significant force in the ever-changing world of technology, changing how companies run and handle their data.
Incorporating strong data management and analytics tools into SaaS applications has become a requirement and a preference as organizations shift more and more towards cloud-based solutions. This blog post will explore the importance of analytics and data management in SaaS for business.
Robust data encryption protocols, frequent data backups, efficient data organization and labeling, and the use of data analysis tools to extract insights will give you a competitive edge in the market in addition to protecting sensitive customer information.
Thus, why not launch your company's potential by taking the first step towards efficient SaaS data organization and SaaS analytics now?
Techniques For Optimising Business Growth With Superior SaaS Data Management
The process of proactively overseeing and managing the acquisition, licensing, onboarding, renewals, and offboarding of all software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications in an organization's technology portfolio is known as SaaS management.
It was created in reaction to the unique characteristics of SaaS apps in a corporate setting. Additionally, it is swiftly evolving into a specialized practice for IT, procurement, and business executives.
For a brief overview of the objectives of SaaS management, continue reading for a more thorough analysis.
Objectives For SaaS Management
Reducing risk from unmanaged tools or technologies, increasing the value of software purchased, and boosting user efficacy are the three main objectives of SaaS management.
Businesses use SaaS administration to:
- Reduce expenses associated with SaaS applications.
- Review SaaS licensing and prepare for renewals.
- Monitor SaaS vendors and contracts.
- Guarantee transparency in SaaS acquisitions
- Stop and minimize unauthorized IT activities.
- Secure SaaS applications
- Maintain an updated SaaS inventory.
- Enhance IT collaboration across your entire organization.
The Need For SaaS Management In Businesses
Nowadays, business software is delivered by default via SaaS. It has surpassed conventional on-premises methods for managing and deploying software.
What are the drawbacks to its broad adoption, considering its enormous popularity and widespread use?
SaaS management reduces costs for your company, removes visibility blind spots, and averts possible disasters to create business value.
To elaborate, the following are some justifications for why companies ought to think about implementing a SaaS Management strategy:
- Avoid And Minimize Shadow It
When technological systems or applications are developed or purchased inside a company without the direct consent or knowledge of the IT department, this is known as "shadow IT." The rise in shadow IT is frequently directly linked to an increase in the number of departments, groups, and individuals making direct SaaS application purchases.
In actuality, one in six workers currently uses SaaS.
Purchasing shadow IT solutions is often motivated by business goals considerations. The business operations can innovate more quickly when lines of business models can independently purchase best-in-class SaaS solutions instead of having centralized IT teams handle all purchases.
- Management Of SaaS Licenses
There is a greater chance of mismanaging SaaS licenses as more teams or business lines acquire SaaS tools. After all, only a few business unit managers receive best practices training in IT management.
The main issue with license mismanagement is under- or non-used licenses.
An unused license may be dangerous if ownership cannot be traced back to specific teams or personnel. For instance, how can the company guarantee that private company information kept in a SaaS application is no longer accessible to a former employee? An unused license may also cause an automatic renewal and extra expenses without active management.
Underutilization of licenses indicates a decrease in the usefulness of the SaaS investment. Optimizing SaaS licenses helps maintain value by ensuring the number of requests or seats corresponds to the organization's needs.
- Management Of SaaS Renewal
Subscription-based SaaS tools have certain benefits but have a significant drawback specific to SaaS: renewals. The typical organization has 291 apps in its stack, so there will be many renewals.
That works out to be roughly one every working day.
Automatic renewals for many SaaS applications are available, with 30, 60, or 90-day (or longer) notice periods. The contract automatically renews if the user doesn't specifically inform the company that they won't be renewing for another term.
Sadly, it forces the customers into yet another cycle of payments. This issue gets better with a centralized management strategy that emphasizes ensuring all renewal dates within the company are defined and recorded.
- Analysis And Visibility Of SaaS Spend
Comprehending the costs and benefits of SaaS is one of the most challenging tasks for an organization. Low-cost SaaS apps lead to unexpected and untracked technology spending when purchased with credit cards or reimbursed expenses.
Knowledge about what amount and who spent money on SaaS apps and any investment returns are at the core of managing SaaS applications.
- SaaS Compliance, Risk Mitigation, And Data Security
Globally, data breaches typically cost businesses $4.35 million on average, including expenses related to mitigation efforts, lost revenues and subsequent process optimization efforts.
In the US, the average cost of a data breach rises to $9.44 million. Additionally, as more employees use SaaS, the likelihood of a cybersecurity incident or data violation increases.
Every SaaS program used for businesses purchased or demoed by an employee using a company email account stores business data from that point on.
Eventually, sensitive data from business records or customer information enters SaaS and other cloud-based software. Through visibility, a SaaS Management strategy that finds and recognizes every SaaS application the company uses strengthens security.
- SaaS Usage And Benefits
Many businesses seek to comprehend and analyze user behavior for adoption and utilization of data, in addition to deeper insights generated.
A more comprehensive understanding of how users engage with applications through deployment, adoption, and long-term usage can be obtained through measuring utilization. This can help with informed decision-making when choosing applications in the future.
- Distributed Access And SaaS Governance
Shadow IT results from decentralized software as a service (SaaS) that expands naturally through user adoption without direct IT management.
However, only some companies aim to force teams or users to regain control over application management through a centralized approach. When teams can directly acquire and control their SaaS applications, many IT resource managers and businesses discover that their organizations become more agile, nimble, and productive.
A hybrid, best-of-both-worlds strategy can be made possible with the help of a SaaS Management process deployment.
IT or sourcing teams can manage and observe the SaaS application inventory overall. They can facilitate robust spending, security, and best practices protocols while enabling line of business owners to oversee the day-to-day operations of their applications efficiently.
Analytics' Power In SaaS Applications
Software-as-a-service businesses use SaaS analytics to track their data and use it to make data-driven, actionable decisions.
SaaS apps have a lot of room for expansion. They are full of technological innovations, which have made the market more crowded. The role of SaaS analytics in businesses is that their sector of the SaaS market will likely use data to map out the terrain and identify opportunities.
SaaS companies must be able to comprehend, evaluate, and meet key performance indicators (KPIs) such as Churn Rate, Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), Customer Lifetime Value, and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) to compete in a crowded ecosystem.
SaaS data analytics systems must manage massive volumes of data and be scalable enough to handle these needs when querying and reporting as SaaS companies experience rapid growth in workers and users.
Complex operations that are still easy for non-technical users should be possible with data analytics systems. Furthermore, the application and software should possess sufficient agility and flexibility to enable end users to personalize their reports and generate unique actionable insights.
SaaS analytics' objectives are to produce
- SaaS applications with analytics enable businesses to make wise business decisions by giving them instant access to data-driven insights.
- SaaS applications are elevated to a new level by integrating advanced analytics, such as machine learning and predictive analytics.
- To increase the accessibility of analytics, SaaS applications frequently incorporate dashboards and reporting tools that are easy to use.
How SaaS Analytics Supports Growth In Business
The SaaS sector is constantly refining its operations. Many businesses need to pay more attention to the significance of internal data sources for expansion.
SaaS providers must actively look for valuable insights into their business intelligence. Please pay attention to these five data points, as they will enable you to maximize the benefits of your data analytics.
Determining Churn
SaaS analytics tools allow you to identify your worst churn in real-time. SaaS-specific analytics enable you to delve deeper into churn than is possible with most analytics tools.
Knowing what is causing your churn will help you stop it and even increase customer retention by automating some processes.
Reduced Prices
SaaS business intelligence helps your operations run more efficiently by accurately measuring data. Understanding which parts work and which don't helps prevent time and money wasted on futile endeavors.
Maintain a close watch over these results and adjust as necessary to ensure all experiments run efficiently and successfully. What may work in January might no longer do so in June.
View The Future
By opting for an advanced SaaS embedded BI tool you will gain access to features like data storytelling that enable you to understand significant market trends more fully while optimizing how your company responds.
These advanced features allow you to project revenue from each customer segment and plan by considering factors like their churn timeline. Data analytics tools can help your business survive and thrive despite unforeseen circumstances.
Customer Segmentation
Most people need to realize how valuable customer segmentation is. Segmenting your customer base according to industry, MRR, LTV, or churn rate can help you better understand user behavior.
You can start optimizing your audience, customer targeting, and user experience from there. Customer segmentation will increase revenue and customer loyalty by providing customers with a more tailored experience.
Profitability will be highest for customers with the highest LTV. You can determine what makes a customer so valuable and why they choose to stick around by asking your SaaS analytics platform which customers have the highest LTV.
You will find this useful information for current and potential clients.
Your team's marketers will benefit from this information supporting their work. How? An existing power user can now effectively market your business by creating brand messaging around their favorite key features of your product.
Doing this will allow you to attract clients with similar profiles while positioning everyone for long-term success.
Track Campaigns
Your email marketing campaigns could target clients about to leave, sending them appealing emails that engage and encourage retention.
To determine their performance accurately - whether the campaign succeeds or fails - tracking these campaigns accurately is critical in assigning performance ratings for each of them and allocating success ratings accordingly. Were there any areas that needed work? Do they merit being repeated? Tracking and reporting are essential to providing meaningful answers to these questions.
Conclusion
In summary, integrating analytics and data management in SaaS applications is essential for enterprises to traverse the intricate digital terrain successfully.
Businesses can fully utilize the power of their data thanks to the smooth integration of these components, which promotes wise data-driven decision-making and long-term growth.
To guarantee a robust and prepared data ecosystem for the future, SaaS providers and enterprises must stay current on new developments in the field of best practices and emerging trends.
Success in the digital age requires embracing the transformative power of data within SaaS applications as a strategic move and doing so fundamentally.
