No matter the size of your business, it’s crucial to have accurate employee and user information across every department.
Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, especially for larger organizations.
In fact, most businesses have dozens of systems that maintain a list of employees, and usually none of them share a common source of truth for employee data because these systems seldom talk to each other. On the off chance they do, the systems haven’t been set up or properly configured so they can be in sync.
Not only can this cause a massive amount of administrative work, but can also lead to a potential breach in sensitive data or an issue with compliance.
This is where SaaS user management comes into play.
What is SaaS user management?
SaaS user management entails a set of tools and processes that assists IT, business, finance, and HR functions with a single view of all employees within an organization.
Gone are the days when all of the tools an employee needed came preloaded on their device or physically sat on their desk. Having a management platform in place that collects, stores, and organizes all of your company’s user data is critical in ensuring that the IT department can securely deliver the right SaaS applications, services, and support to all internal users when they need it most.
To accomplish this, you need a SaaS user management plan. And to complement that plan, you’ll want to add G2 Track to your tech stack.
The importance of SaaS user management
There are many ways an organization can maintain its own single source of truth when it comes to their employee directory and all of its users accounts. Not only is this important for payroll and other roles of the HR department, since they’re tasked with provisioning applications, but also for IT-related services for employees, and keeping an eye SaaS sprawl.
The active directory and other business systems should be complete with various details surrounding each employee, like:
- Name
- Email address
- Department
- Office location (if you have more than one)
- Salary
- Address
- Phone number
- Various usernames and passwords
Whenever there’s a change to employee data, it can be quite a cumbersome task when all of your various systems and software solutions need to be updated in real-time. When they don’t point to any central authority, or automatically sync with one another, this data needs to be updated by hand.
This isn’t a big deal if your company has a few hundred employees at most. When this is the case, spreadsheets are often the go-to tool for user management for everything related to payroll, finance, IT, and more.
However, it can be quite time consuming as businesses begin to scale and start getting into the high hundreds or even thousands of employees. It’s common for companies to start having an issue maintaining a single source of truth regarding employee data as they approach 500-600 employees, some of whom aren't on-premises.
One of the first steps in fully understanding what business applications your employees are using is to first get a solid grip and stay on top of who your employees are, where they are, and what department they’re in.
Challenges within SaaS user management
When your company doesn’t have a built-out SaaS user management plan in place, some challenges could take place.
When your employee directory systems aren’t in sync or in communication with one another, your business may experience a lot of manual management overhead and a drain in productivity as various department leaders take the extra time to ensure this data is being updated accurately. When updating these systems is done manually, there’s always the possibility of error, which could be costly for your company.
A lot can go wrong when there’s a slip up in employee data. Some examples are:
- When an employee has left your company and you’re going through the offboarding process, there could be something that falls through the cracks, like removing their access from various software. When they still have access to sensitive data, you put your company at risk for a data breach.
- On a similar note, onboarding a new user can also become challenging when these systems aren’t up to date. It’s important that when someone starts at your company that from day one they have access to all of the tools and applications they need to be set up for success. If their employee data isn’t accurate, they could wait for days or even weeks to be given a seat in a new application. Beyond access management, it’s also crucial to generate the proper paperwork that goes hand-in-hand with onboarding.
- When employee data isn’t accurate, payroll can become complicated. If a member from the marketing team gets a promotion, or moved to a different department, it’s crucial that the systems are in sync so this change can be reflected. Otherwise, their pay won’t be accurate during the next cycle.
How G2 Track can assist in SaaS user management
When it comes to the SaaS user management system you put in place, G2 Track is the perfect complementary application to ensure it can be done with minimal effort.
First things first, when G2 Track is incorporated with your SaaS user management solution, it will tell you which applications your employees have access to and if they’re actually using these tools. Thanks to utilizing single sign-on (SSO), G2 Track allows for visibility into how many times users are logging into applications.
Maybe there’s a tool within your tech stack that you think it’s critical to the daily tasks of your employees, but you see that only three members of your 50 person sales team are logging in on a regular basis. Is that an application that is really critical?
Secondly, when your company is using a single source of truth for managing employees and all of their data, G2 Track can visualize all users across the various systems and then allocate a dollar amount to the cost of all of the SaaS applications each employee is using. This makes it easier to optimize your SaaS spend and potentially consolidate the tools your team doesn’t have use for.
Going back to our example above, when you find that only three members are logging in and come to the conclusion that certain cloud applications are no longer critical, you can see how much of your company’s budget is being spent on that tool. Plus, you can see how much you could be saving by potentially cutting that tool altogether or going with a cheaper solution that could be more within budget.
$40 billion
is estimated to be spent on unused software every year.
Source: G2 Track
Regardless of whether you have a single source of truth for all employees, or if your employee directory is scattered across various applications where this information usually resides, G2 Track can integrate with all of them to provide you with a list of all applications they use, how often they use these apps, and how much they're costing you on average.
G2 Track requires minimum effort to maintain and manage as it gives you clearer insights into your employee data. As it brings in employees from various systems, including single sign-on and direct applications, your company will have access to employee data from all unified software solutions and SaaS apps for better visibility and understanding of which tools your teams are using and how much you’re paying for them during their lifecycle.
Visibility at its finest
It’s not an easy task to ensure that the right people have access to the right resources. While it can be a complicated task, it’s crucial to the productivity of your company and all of its departments. As evolutions in SaaS user management connect users to the IT resources they need, having a secure authentication system, and a tool like G2 Track to heighten visibility into SaaS solutions can make all the difference.
Looking for more insights into where your business can save money? Take advantage of our free tech spend analysis to audit your software costs and license usage with a customized savings report.
