How to keep employees productive and address regulatory compliance with a SaaS management platform

introduction

As the use of SaaS apps increases in financial institutions, how to effectively manage them has become an important challenge. SaaS subscription management is an essential challenge, especially for financial institutions that need to identify and report all software being used to comply with the Financial Supervisory Service's regulations. However, the key is to achieve this in a way that enhances centralized management while not harming the productivity and autonomy of employees.

This article explains why businesses need a SaaS management platform (SMP), guides how to effectively adopt SMP while protecting employee productivity, and provides 6 key points for financial institutions to consider when first adopting SMP.

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What is a SaaS management platform (SMP) and why is it important

A SaaS management platform (SMP) is a solution that allows businesses to centrally discover, manage, and optimize all cloud-based software they use. Recently, as companies give employees more autonomy, there is a growing trend of individuals directly purchasing and using SaaS applications for work. This distributed purchasing method has the advantage of increasing employee productivity and satisfaction, but at the same time, it makes it difficult for IT and finance teams to grasp the overall SaaS landscape.

This is where Megazone Pops' greatest strength lies. It provides the visibility and management efficiency needed at the enterprise level without limiting the freedom of employees to choose and use the tools that work best for them. Employees can buy and use the SaaS they need as usual, and the company provides a balance point where they can understand and manage it as a whole.

In the case of financial institutions in particular, accurate SaaS inventory management is even more important as there is a regulatory obligation to report all software being used to the Financial Supervisory Service. SMP addresses these issues, makes regulatory compliance easier, and at the same time contributes to cost optimization by reducing unnecessary duplicate subscriptions or unused licenses.

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How to adopt a SaaS management platform

1. Understand the current state of SaaS management

The first step in adopting an SMP is to accurately understand the current state of SaaS management within the organization. Check the situation by asking the following questions:

• How does the SaaS app purchase process work within the company?
• Who approves and manages SaaS subscriptions?
• How many SaaS apps do you currently use, and how much do they cost?
• Is there SaaS where employees make direct purchases with personal accounts or corporate cards?
• Is there a way to track SaaS accounts registered under the company domain?

In the case of a large domestic financial company, 400 employees freely purchased and used SaaS with personal corporate cards, and there was no centralized management system. This made it difficult to determine who was using what SaaS and whether they were actually using it. However, the company prioritized employee autonomy and productivity, and was suddenly looking for a better management method instead of limiting the use of SaaS.

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2. Building a SaaS Discovery Process

One of the core functions of SMP is to discover all SaaS applications within an organization. An effective discovery process utilizes the following methods:

• Payment data analysis: Understand the status of SaaS subscriptions by analyzing corporate card usage history, expense reports, and invoice data.
• SSO integration: Track SaaS usage based on login data in conjunction with SSO (Single Sign-On) solutions.
• Network traffic monitoring: Analyze SaaS application connection data within the corporate network.
• browser extensions: Collects SaaS usage through an extension installed in the user's browser.

Megazone's POPs solution integrates these various discovery methods to provide a comprehensive understanding of an enterprise's SaaS status.

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3. Establishing a centralized SaaS management system

Once all SaaS applications have been discovered, a system must be established to centrally manage them:

• User-app mapping: Gain visibility by mapping which employees use which applications
• License management: Manage the license type, quantity, and renewal schedule for each SaaS app.
• Expense tracking: Track and analyze SaaS spending by department and team.
• Usage monitoring: Monitor actual SaaS usage to identify unused licenses.

In the case of this financial company, OKTA, GWS, Slack, Tableau, and ChatGPT (team licenses) common to all companies were managed centrally, but other individual Perplexity, GitHub Copilot, and JetBrains were not centrally managed. These tools are tools that have a direct impact on the productivity of developers and planners, and this was a deliberate decision to allow employees to freely choose and use them.

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4. Establishing user domain and account policies

SaaS account management using a corporate domain is an important factor in improving security and management efficiency:

• Domain-based policies: Establish a policy to use the company domain (for example, @company .com) for all SaaS subscriptions.
• Switch between personal accounts: Guide you to convert an account signed up with a personal email to a corporate domain.
• Account linking: Access is controlled through a central authentication system in conjunction with SSO.

The financial company recommended using a corporate domain when using SaaS, but there was no way to actually check and enforce this. We are planning to identify SaaS being used as a personal account through the introduction of SMP, but gradually switch to a corporate domain in a way that does not disrupt employees' workflow.

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5. Strengthening security and compliance

For financial institutions, security and compliance are particularly important when it comes to SaaS management:

• risk assessment: Assess and categorize the security risk of each SaaS app.
• Data access control: Specially manage SaaS apps that can access sensitive data.
• Automate regulatory reports: Data required for Financial Supervisory Service reporting is automatically collected and reports are generated.
• Block access for retirees: Establish a process to quickly block leavers from accessing SaaS.

In the case of this financial company, internal networks (regulated matters) and Internet networks (unregulated) are operated separately, so determining whether to access a closed network and security suitability were important considerations when introducing an SMP solution. POPS is designed in consideration of this security environment unique to the financial sector, and provides necessary management functions with minimal changes to the tools and workflows currently used by employees.

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6. Establishing an incremental optimization process

Adopting SMP is not a one-off project; it's a continuous optimization process:

• Regular reviews: Review SaaS inventory and usage on a monthly or quarterly basis.
• License rebalance: Identify unused licenses and downgrade or revoke them.
• Optimizing contract renewals: Renegotiate and optimize contract terms at the time of renewal
• Collecting user feedback: Gather feedback on employees' SaaS experience and needs.

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Considerations when adopting a SaaS management platform

If you're a financial institution adopting a SaaS management platform for the first time, consider the following:

1. User experience first: As one financial company emphasized, choose SMP from the perspective of “not causing inconvenience to users.” The balance between employees being able to continue using the tools they want and managers getting the visibility they need is key. To improve productivity, solutions that can manage costs and regulatory compliance while maintaining a corporate culture that gives employees autonomy are important.
   
   
2. A phased approach: Rather than trying to manage all SaaS at once, proceed with a PoC (Proof of Concept) and gradually expand it around SaaS apps that are managed as representative ones.
   
   
3. Security review: Check security issues in advance, such as an internal review of employee information being exposed to the outside when linking SSO.
   
   
4. Cost-effectiveness: Generally, the cost is estimated to be between 200 and 3 million won per month based on 400 users and 60 to 70 apps. Compare and analyze the cost savings and compliance benefits of this.
   
   
5. Integrate existing systems: Check out integration possibilities with existing core systems such as HR systems, payroll systems, and recruitment systems.
   
   
6. scalability: Consider changes in scalability and costs as users grow.
   

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finishing

A SaaS management platform (SMP) is a solution that can effectively address the complexity and compliance requirements of SaaS management faced by financial institutions. Megazone Pops helps IT departments and finance teams understand and optimize the overall SaaS landscape while protecting employees' autonomy and productivity as a top priority.

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The biggest advantage of Megazone Pops lies in this balance. Employees are free to choose and use the tools they need for their work, and managers get the visibility and control they need. It provides a flexible approach to simultaneously optimize SaaS costs, enhance security, and achieve regulatory compliance without hampering employee productivity in a changing work environment.

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Are you struggling with SaaS management? If you want to learn more about effective SaaS management methods to comply with Financial Supervisory Service regulations, sign up for a free demo of Megazone's PoPS solution. We help you develop a SaaS management strategy tailored to your enterprise.

👉 Request a demo

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