Why IT uses BetterCloud platform for full control of the SaaS environment

The biggest challenges in SaaS today aren’t about keeping up with adoption, they’re about gaining full control over the entire SaaS environment. From managing users and apps to overseeing vendors, securing files, developing workflows, and executing automations, most platforms fall short. That’s why leading IT teams choose BetterCloud: the only SaaS Management Platform (SMP) built to discover, automate, manage, and secure your entire SaaS ecosystem.

Each app brings its own complex web of apps, vendors, users, licenses, and files. Most organizations now rely on an average of 106 SaaS apps (Source: BetterCloud’s 2025 State of SaaS Report) to run critical processes across every department.

But with maturity comes complexity:

• Bloated app portfolios
• Redundant, underused, and unmonitored apps
• Shadow IT everywhere
• Spiraling SaaS spend
• Security vulnerabilities 
• Compliance blindspots
• Manual, time-consuming user management

To put it another way, IT isn’t grappling with getting more SaaS: it’s about getting more out of the SaaS stack you do.

Why managing the entire SaaS environment is now a core IT responsibility

At the current time, IT is tasked with more than just enabling software—they must secure it, optimize it, govern it, and ensure it delivers business value.

That means managing every SaaS app across its full lifecycle, from first discovery to final offboarding and all activities in between including:

• Discovery of both sanctioned and unsanctioned apps
• Procurement and onboarding of new SaaS tools
• License and cost optimization
• Automated user lifecycle management
• Data security and file governance
• Compliance and audit readiness
• Contract renewals and vendor management
• Offboarding and deprovisioning

This lifecycle is no longer optional to manage, it’s essential. Without it, it’s a source of risk, waste, and inefficiency.

To efficiently manage SaaS, point solutions aren’t enough

Single function solutions, like SAMs, CASBs, or iPaaS tools, can’t address the full scope of SaaS management issues. They focus on pieces of the puzzle but leave gaps in automation, visibility, governance.

Plus, there’s some serious operational disadvantages, like:

• Limited and disjointed visibility: thanks to data silos, they leave an incomplete picture of your entire SaaS ecosystem.
• Operational complexity and inefficiency: integrating multiple vendors is time-consuming, takes time to learn, and managing them is inefficient for daily IT operations.  
• Higher total cost of ownership (TCO): While a single point solution is likely less expensive, a collection of them results in a higher and often hidden total cost of ownership. You pay for multiple apps, for some redundant features, additional cost for integration, development, and training, only to result in suboptimal processes.
• Increased security and compliance risk: it’s difficult to enforce consistent security policies and data governance across your entire SaaS portfolio. In addition, point solutions can often give inconsistent or contradictory information, making it hard to get a reliable view, which in turn, increases the likelihood of mistakes, failed audits and penalties.
• Poor scalability: hard to scale and change with growth and changing needs. 

Efficient IT operations require a unified SaaS management solution

Gartner analysts have a similar take. 

The 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SaaS Management Platforms Report defines SMPs as tools purpose-built to manage SaaS applications across their entire lifecycle. They write that organizations that do not implement centralized SaaS lifecycle management are:

• 5x more likely to face security incidents
• Wasting at least 25% of their SaaS budget

And today most forward-thinking organizations do, too. They are consolidating around one category-defining platform: a true, all-in-one SaaS Management Platform (SMP) that goes beyond just spend management or automation. 

The best IT teams are deploying SMPs that manage every facet of the SaaS lifecycle. And there’s only one SMP that consistently delivers across discovery, automation, governance, spend optimization, and renewals: BetterCloud.

BetterCloud’s journey: From GSuite management to SMP market leader

BetterCloud was founded in 2011 to help IT teams better manage early SaaS apps like Google Docs and Sites. But we quickly saw where the market was heading—and we built for it.

• 2016: Launched the first multi-SaaS SMP
• 2019: Added the BetterCloud integration center
• 2019–2023: Expanded with no-code automation, a custom API, more and more actions, as well as deeper integrations
• 2024: Acquired leader in spend optimization, G2 Track
• 2024: Acquired best-in-class file sharing control and governance, Tricent
• 2025: Named a G2 leader and SaaS management for 3 consecutive quarters and a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Leader for SaaS Management Platforms

BetterCloud is not just another tool in your IT tech stack—it’s your system of record and action for managing your entire SaaS environment. It is the only platform that delivers full lifecycle coverage, combining best-in-class visibility, automation, security, and spend control in a single tool.

BetterCloud today: A unified platform for full control of SaaS

BetterCloud’s all-in-one SaaS management platform covers every phase of SaaS management. Right now, it has five main priorities:

• Discovery and visibility
• License optimization and spend governance
• User automation
• SaaS security and file governance
• Renewals and retirements

1. SaaS discovery, visibility, and control across the entire stack

Before you can manage all your SaaS apps, you must know what you’re using.

BetterCloud automatically discovers every SaaS app, including newer AI apps like ChatGPT. With BetterCloud’s discovery, IT accurately identifies and categorizes all software in your environment from enterprise tools to Shadow IT, consumer, or freemium apps, whether approved or not. 

You get instant clarity not just on what apps are in use, but they’re categorized by tools function, so you’ll know which are redundant or risky.

Our agentless discovery approach avoids the limitations and security risks of browser extensions, instead pulling data from:

• SSO tools
• Identity providers
• Finance systems
• OAuth integrations

Key discovery capabilities:

• Track all apps, users, and access methods (OAuth, SSO, etc.)
• Identify unsanctioned and redundant tools
• Maintain a centralized repository of apps, vendors, and licenses
• Leverage 90,000+ pre-categorized apps using G2’s SaaS taxonomy- the world’s largest and most comprehensive

This discovery is the first stage of gaining control of the SaaS environment and BetterCloud ensures it’s always accurate and up to date.

2. License optimization and spend governance to reduce overspending and overprovisioning

Once discovered, your SaaS portfolio must be optimized for cost, usage, and efficiency.

BetterCloud Spend Optimization delivers complete visibility into app spend, license usage, and contract terms so you can make data-backed spending decisions.

It allows you to:

• Reclaim unused and underutilized licenses
• Consolidate redundant accounts
• Benchmark pricing in the free BetterRenewal service via anonymized vendor data
• Manage vendors, contracts, and terms
• Forecast usage trends and optimize budgets

SaaS spend management isn’t a finance-only concern. It’s a key phase of the SaaS management, ensuring every dollar spent delivers business value.

3. Zero-touch user lifecycle automation to eliminate manual IT work

Manual user provisioning and deprovisioning doesn’t scale, and leaves gaps in access, compliance, and security.

BetterCloud enables IT teams to automate the entire user lifecycle, including:

• Onboarding: Provision licenses, groups, drives, calendars
• Mid-lifecycle changes: Handle promotions, transfers, or department switches
• Offboarding: Revoke access, reclaim licenses, archive data—automatically
• Help desk task automation: Password resets, group or app access changes

With enterprise-grade extensibility, BetterCloud connects seamlessly with the tools you already use, including:

• SSO: Okta, JumpCloud
• ITSM: Jira, ServiceNow
• HRIS: Workday, BambooHR
• Productivity and collaboration: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack

And then using our powerful no-code workflow builder, any IT admin can design orchestrate complex, cross-app workflows. Thanks to templates, 1,000+ pre-built actions, triggers, and logic, plus more than 100 pre-built integrations—anyone can easily build workflows covering every user interaction across the SaaS lifecycle. 

All these comprehensive features together make BetterCloud the central hub for managing users and access by unifying data and actions across your tech stack.

4. File governance and SaaS data security to protect what matters

Protecting sensitive data and limiting common security risks is critical across the SaaS lifecycle, especially during high-risk activities like onboarding or offboarding. In addition, security is more than login controls, it’s also about what users do once inside an app, especially file sharing.

BetterCloud offers advanced security and file governance capabilities, enabling IT and security teams to:

• Scan and audit all files stored across Google Drive, Microsoft, Dropbox, Slack, and more
• Detect externally shared or misconfigured files
• Automate DLP policy enforcement with auto-remediation
• Identify sensitive files shared externally
• Instantly revoke permissions or lock files
• Monitor and respond to risky OAuth scopes or misconfigurations
• Enforce least privilege access across all platforms

Security isn’t a one-time concern. It must be embedded throughout the SaaS lifecycle. With BetterCloud File Governance, SaaS security is visible, proactive, and automated. 

5. SaaS app renewals and retirements

The final stage in managing SaaS is for renewal and retirement. All too often, this phase lacks the due diligence it should have or gets completely overlooked. Unfortunately, that’s where costs pile up and opportunities to cut spending slip by.

BetterCloud centralizes vendor management so IT, procurement, and finance can:

• Track renewal dates and get alerts
• Conduct short pulse surveys to understand employee sentiment around the tools they use
• Assign ownership to business stakeholders
• Benchmark pricing and negotiate smarter
• Eliminate or consolidate redundant tools
• Sunset orphaned apps 

These last-mile phases of the SaaS lifecycle are where true savings and enduring efficiencies are realized.

Real-world ROI from full SaaS control

Our customers don’t just save money and deliver a fantastic return on investment, they transform their operations. When companies use BetterCloud across the full SaaS lifecycle, the results are immediate and measurable. 

Time for an example: a current BetterCloud customer with 1,200 employees needed to optimize its software management and improve security. They also wanted better IT efficiency and lower costs. After a year, here are their benefits:

• $1.12M in annual savings, with $140,000 recouped through SaaS license optimization after identifying unused applications.
• $796,000 in annual productivity gains by creating a zero-touch, self-service portal, eliminating employee wait times for app access.
• $184,000 saved annually in IT staff time by automating onboarding, offboarding, and mid-lifecycle process changes.
• Increased operational efficiency by reallocating two full-time employees from IT administration to roles supporting go-to-market and revenue growth.
• Enhanced security posture through proactive monitoring and automated policy enforcement on over 4 million sensitive files.
• Risk mitigation achieved by identifying and revoking OAuth access for 312 risky, non-compliant applications.
• Improved security governance by implementing a least-privilege access model, reducing super admin accounts from 15 to 3.

While these are big wins for IT, they’re also enormous for the business.

Why BetterCloud: the only unified SaaS management platform for the SaaS lifecycle

Unlike many vendors, BetterCloud isn’t a point solution trying to catch up. To meet IT needs across the whole lifecycle, we’re the established leader, the category creator, and the go-to SMP that is:

A long record of continuous innovation

As new pain points arise and challenges emerge, BetterCloud evolves, too. In coming months, new BetterCloud functionality and upgrades will:

• Expand your reach with “Boundaryless” User Lifecycle Management: Our enhanced API architecture and new AI-powered actions will extend automation to 300 new SaaS apps this year—a 6x increase—including those with no traditional APIs. The result is complete visibility and governance for every user.
• Automate with less overhead: Faster performance and improved Slack form editing for Self-Service automation empower IT teams to easily design and deploy workflows that support collaborative and self-enforcing policy management.
• Simplify complex tasks with AI: Our new AI-native experience, launching in Google Workspace, uses agentic prompts, guided workflows, and context-driven insights to simplify even the most complex process orchestrations.
• Rely on a stronger, faster platform: We’re investing in performance, scalability, and usability across all major modules—Spend Management, File Governance, and User Automation—so you can enjoy a seamless and powerful experience, every step of the way.
• Benefit from customer-led innovation: We remain dedicated to building with you. Your feedback has always shaped our roadmap, and it continues to guide us as we build the future of SaaS management.

Exceptional training, service, and support

When it comes to the product itself, BetterCloud is designed to be easy to set up, to learn, and to build automations. To make deployment even quicker and easier—for a fast and positive return on investment—there’s:

• BetterCloud Flight School for training
• BetterCloud Inflight workshops for ongoing training, support, and networking
• Detailed knowledge base
• An active BetterIT Slack community
• Top-notch paid professional services
• Fantastic and responsive tech support
• Dedicated customer success teams 

Your best SaaS management choice: BetterCloud 

To sum up, if your organization wants:

• End-to-end visibility to eliminate Shadow IT
• Zero-touch user lifecycle automation to maximize IT efficiency
• Industry-leading SaaS spend optimization to uncover savings
• Proactive file and data security and governance to stay secure and compliant
• Superior training and support to guarantee a fast return on investment
• Continuous innovation to meet any future challenges

There’s only one obvious choice: the unified SaaS management platform for managing the whole SaaS environment from BetterCloud.

Ready to learn more BetterCloud, a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Leader for SaaS Management Platforms, and consistent G2 Grid Leader, including Fall 2025, use our free ROI calculator, join our next live demo, or request a demo today.