If there’s one thing many IT and operational professionals have in common, it’s their goal to make sure everything is running smoothly. When it comes down to it, you are faced with choosing the right software and latest technologies to help aid your team in their day to day tasks as well as your own. Or it may be to help your company itself. There are so many different vendors out there now that all offer similar solutions; it can be difficult to decipher which is the right fit for you. What the software offers should be exactly what you need. After all, the whole reason you are choosing this software is so that there can be less friction, not more complications. We have put together some tips and strategies to put into place when selecting the right software vendor for your company.

The first thing you should do is, put together a list of the needs you have, the requirements you absolutely must have, and the things you can live without. Having this list ready will help when it comes down to comparing features. On this list, also include the price range you are trying to stay in. When speaking to a vendor, ask them if they have different tiers of pricing and if they offer customized pricing for what you need. Beware of overspending and ending up with features you do not need as well as any hidden fees. Will they offer a free trial? This way, you can explore the features and see if it is a good fit.

Do you need this software right away? Implementation time could be a huge factor in which software to bring into your company. Is it going to take multiple weeks for employees to figure out the new system? Is it user-friendly? This is supposed to help aid their work, not take away from productivity.

Do they have a customer service team? If something goes wrong, are there limited hours in which you can get support? The main thing to look out for here is that no matter which pricing structure you choose.

Look at reviews. There are many sites out there that are made for reviewing software platforms. Some of them include; Capterra, G2, and Software Advice. These would be great resources to see what others think about the software you are considering. Some vendors even let you speak to their actual customers to hear how they are using the product.

At the end of the day, when choosing a vendor, the best thing to do is stay open-minded. As long as you do your research and make sure they can align with your goals, choosing the right software for your company will be a little easier than you may think.

When bad things happen in the world of information technology, it’s not always the result of bad actors or bad intentions. In fact, the most well-meaning people can wreak havoc on your company’s data and systems — without any idea they’re doing it.

It’s a phenomenon known as Shadow IT — a name that symbolizes the sneaky, subversive way software-as-a-service platforms and cloud-based subscription services can enter your organization and, in the process, expose your business to unchecked third parties.

Shadow IT has emerged in part because employees have grown accustomed to the ubiquity of technology and applications that make their lives easier, more streamlined and more productive. Increasingly, they’re looking to adopt those tools in the workplace and bring that heightened efficiency to their work life, too. And when all you need is an email address and a credit card to do it, it’s easy to sign up for new systems without securing approval from your company’s IT leaders. In fact, 40 percent of all IT spending at a company takes place outside the IT department, according to research from the advisory firm CEB.

The problem is, that pushes technology downloads and installations into the shadows. Businesses are left in the dark. And with that comes risk.

Third-party applications typically require access to data to perform their core functions. If you don’t know what’s being downloaded, you don’t know what data is being accessed and, just as important, who has access to it. Although some employees may have the necessary technological insight to make informed decisions on behalf of the company, others may not.

That can create serious problems for the organization as a whole. In 2016, research giant Gartner predicted that, by 2020, a third of successful attacks on enterprises will be on their shadow IT resources.

External data breaches aren’t the only concern associated with unsanctioned data sharing; shadow IT also makes companies vulnerable to internal theft. An employee could use cloud storage programs to abscond with customer databases, intellectual property and other assets critical to basic business operations. If company leaders don’t know the cloud storage program is in use, they also won’t know they’ve been duped.

Then there’s the issue of compliance: If you work in highly regulated industries, there are rules associated with sharing files, documents and records. When you don’t know what technological resources have access to those documents, you run the risk of falling out of compliance — which is a risk most businesses can’t afford to take.

In addition to security concerns, there are also issues related to cost. SaaS platforms and applications don’t come for free. Most operate on a subscription model, which can lock your business into a set rate for a pre-determined period of time. And while the price may seem right for the employee who wants to use it in his or her work, it may not be for the business.

There are important questions that should precede any technological investment: How many people stand to benefit from the service? How long will you need it? Does it provide a service you’re already getting from another platform? If these downloads aren’t being tracked, chances are, no one is asking these questions before the moment of purchase. And that means your business could be spending more than it should be.

Lastly, there’s the question of efficiency. That’s the overarching goal of any SaaS platform you bring into the business, but how can you track that to measure your return on investment? An employee may download an application, access it once and then never use it again — leaving the business to pay for something it’s not using. One department may sign up for a service offered through a particular provider, while another department chooses a competitor. Then the company is stuck paying for both, while your business is relying on different systems to solve the same need.

Given all of that, it’s tempting to lock everything down and limit external downloads to just a few key members of your team. But that, too, comes at a cost. You want to arm your employees with the tools they need to be effective and productive in their jobs. You also want to empower them to find systems and processes that make the business more efficient.

So, what do you do?

You don’t have to limit external platforms to track their presence in your business. In fact, in its article talking about the risks posed by shadow IT, Gartner concluded that shutting it down isn’t the answer: “Companies should find a way to track shadow IT and create a culture of acceptance and protection versus detection and punishment,” the article states.

Instead, you can access a service like SaaSTrax to monitor what systems are being used, who in your organization is using them and how much it’s costing you. It’s a system that pulls IT out of the shadows and gives you the information you need to investigate applications, gauge their effectiveness and determine whether they are worth the continued investment.

And here’s a side bonus: When you have insight into how your employees are trying to use technology, you can gain a better understanding of their needs and preferences, which is critical to building a healthy, thriving team moving forward.

You can pull your IT out of the shadows without locking down your entire business. And you can reap multiple benefits as a result. At SaaSTrax, we can help. Sign up for a free trial to see how we can help take the risk out of your IT investments.

Most people who have held an office job are familiar with one of the following scenarios:

 

“The company’s server is down.”

Solution? “Call IT.”

“My computer needs an upgrade, and it won’t let me do it myself.”

Solution? “Call IT.”

“I need access to a new program.”

Solution? “Call IT.”

 

Given the myriad of technical issues that can befall any given organization at any given time, the IT department once filled a critical role inside a company. And you might think, with the speed and scope of technological innovation, the role of IT would have only expanded in recent years. Right?

Not quite.

As it’s done in so many industries, technology has changed the corporate IT function significantly. The ubiquity of software-as-a-service platforms has given any employee with an Internet connection (meaning all of them) the ability to download new systems without the approval of the IT department. Customer relationship management systems such as Salesforce and Hubspot have IT support networks built into their platforms, with experts waiting to answer any questions or solve problems. And there’s rarely a need for a company server, now that everything lives in the cloud.

As early as 2011, David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails, was hailing the end of corporate IT. “When people talk about their IT departments, they always talk about the things they’re not allowed to do, the applications they can’t run, and the long time it takes to get anything done,” he wrote. “If businesses had as many gripes with an external vendor, that vendor would’ve been dropped long ago. But IT departments have endured as a necessary evil. I think those days are coming to an end.”

That sentiment was echoed again in 2016, when the Telegraph ran an article under the headline, “Is this the end of the traditional IT department?”

“Many of the functions the traditional IT team served — deploying and maintaining in-house systems, networks and infrastructure; managing software upgrades; deciding which PCs, servers and storage boxes to invest in — are now obsolete as firms instead rely on online services, and employees choose the devices they want to work on,” the article states. “The increased awareness the average employee or executive now has about technology, coupled with the availability of cost-effective web-based systems, also means corporate technology should no longer be locked away from the end user.”

While all of that may be true, we believe it does not doom corporate IT to extinction. It may be the end of an era, but it’s also the dawning of a new one.

First, the mass adoption of external platforms and services is creating risks for businesses, giving third parties access to company data, often times without anyone’s knowledge. That’s why the practice of downloading third-party systems without the consent of corporate technology executives has been dubbed Shadow IT: Its existence is known by one or two employees and yet it’s been granted full access to your company’s back-end systems.

When there’s no corporate IT, no one is watching.

Second, while senior executives in an organization may understand how technology can enhance their performance or add to the bottom line, they may not be able to assess the overall impact to the business and its systems. When you download an application, you have to agree to certain terms and conditions, which outline what the third party will have access to. But how many marketers actually read that? How many CFOs understand the way an API integration impacts other company systems? How many CEOs want to spend their time analyzing the pros and cons of one platform over another to ensure the company gets the best value, while mitigating the most risk?

Finally, when you run a business with multiple systems across multiple departments and dozens, hundreds or thousands of employees who have access to just about all of it, you need someone to manage that, plain and simple. It’s not necessarily about staving off hackers or cyber attacks (although those are still viable threats); the business is exposed to risk every day, through the simplest of actions by the most well-meaning employees. After all, Patient Zero rarely foresees the kind of epidemic they can create.

And the key to preventing an outbreak is early detection.

Corporate IT departments still hold a valuable place in companies of all sizes, but they do have to evolve. While the need to help employees upgrade software may have long since passed, IT departments can play a vital role in mitigating the risks that come with new technologies. They can look across organizations to find areas of waste and excess, exposed data and shady systems. And they can provide the kind of comprehensive strategies that allow companies to harness the full potential of technology.

SaaSTrax can help. We built our platform to help companies manage the risks associated with technology and eliminate waste, while allowing their employees to take advantage of all the benefits cloud-based systems have to offer. We’re putting the power back in the hands of your IT leaders, for the good of your business.

Want to learn more about how we can support your company? Click here for a free trial.

When was the last time your email went down or your WiFi cut out in the middle of work? It upends your entire day, stops your project in its tracks, and suddenly you realize that technology is vital to modern business operations.

For the most part, that’s a good thing: Technology has brought a lot of good to the world of business, opening the door for innovation and transformation on a grand scale.

At the same time, however, technology has also introduced risk. We hear news reports about large-scale data breaches all the time. Hackers found a way to steal credit card information from 41 million Target customers. Facebook opened the door for third-party apps to snatch your data and that of all your connections. Even something as innocuous as a fitness app can be the target of cyber attack, as Under Armour discovered just last year, when data from 150 million users of My Fitness Pal was stolen.

It’s a well-documented and pervasive problem, but the solution is not to abandon all use of technology; the impact to businesses of all sizes would be catastrophic. Instead, it’s important put systems and processes in place to prevent worst-case scenarios from coming to pass.

That starts with understanding the risks you could face when it comes to technology. Here are three scenarios that can leave your business vulnerable:

Your employees are engaging in “Shadow IT”
You may not know “Shadow IT” by name, but you know it in practice. “Shadow IT” is the use of IT-related hardware or software by a department or individual within a company without the knowledge of that company’s IT or security group. It’s the now-common practice at all levels of an organization of downloading systems or platforms without departmental or organizational tracking and approval.

In the world of “Shadow IT”, SaaS platforms are the biggest cause for concern simply because they are simultaneously ubiquitous and easy to access, promising transformative impact for low cost and commitment.

But, while those third-party platforms may have the best of intentions, the access we grant them can make your business vulnerable to attack.

To combat that threat, some companies take extreme measures and implement security protocols that limit download authority to management or IT leads.

But there are many companies out there with little to no security protocols in place when it comes to policing external software and downloads. They either lack the IT infrastructure to support such a sizable security investment, or they underestimate the risk at hand. And neither situation is an excuse for a lack of protection.

The good news for businesses: There are other options available besides a massive investment in security technology. Consider instead a platform like SaaSTrax, which monitors the cloud-based systems your company subscribes to, tracks how many people in your company are using those systems and how much each one costs. It gives you insight into all the technology your business is using, across every team member and department, which allows you to limit your exposure to unnecessary risks.

Plus, it costs a fraction of the investment required to keep your entire company under technological lock and key.

You trust someone with purchasing and managing software — and that person leaves.
Let’s say an employee signed up for five SaaS platforms during his time at a given company. He was the “owner” of the accounts, with all the usernames and passwords. And then, he left.

Without proper tracking systems in place, that company could be left with five accounts it can’t access. Five bills it’s responsible for paying. Five systems going unused and eating up valuable company dollars.

Businesses need a way to mitigate that risk, and that’s where the technology we’ve built at SaaSTrax can help, providing a centralized platform to track cloud-based platforms and subscriptions. That way, if the employee who signed up for a system leaves, the business can identify what credit card is being charged month after month (and transfer the account to a new one), how frequently the platform is being used (and whether it’s worth the continued investment) and what information is needed to access the account.

It keeps you up to speed on everything happening in your business, and when it comes to your business, knowledge is power.

You don’t know how much money you’re spending — and how much is being wasted.
Typically, when we sign up for SaaS services, we do so with the best intentions. We’ve honed in on a system that could transform the way we work, and our goal is to use every last feature we’ve paid for.

Often times, those good intentions don’t translate into solid action, and if companies aren’t paying attention, they can see lots of money go out the window when those systems sit idle, or when the people who signed up spent more than they should have.

Payments for cloud-based platforms are likely included on expense reports, but they’re limited to a dollar amount, nothing more. That doesn’t show you how many users you’re paying for, measured against how many users are actually taking advantage of the system. It doesn’t tell you what systems are sitting idle. In short, you don’t know what you’re spending, and what you’re wasting.

We built SaaSTrax to solve for that. We advocate investing in systems if they’re helping your team and your business move forward. But if a system is being under-utilized or not utilized at all, it’s got to go. No business can afford to open itself up to increased risks and increased costs for no good reason.

 

Want to learn more about how SaaSTrax can help protect your business against risk? Sign up for a