Expanding the Capability of SAM Tool with SaaS Management

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Are you currently using a Software Asset Management (SAM) tool but still struggling with managing your SaaS applications?

While SAM tools are excellent for tracking and managing on-premise software assets, they often fall short when it comes to handling the growing number of SaaS applications within an organization. This is where SaaS management tools can make a big difference.

By integrating a SaaS management solution, you can expand your SAM tool’s capability, ensuring better control over all software, including cloud-based solutions.

For instance, integrating a SaaS management tool alongside your SAM software allows you to track unsanctioned applications, reclaim unused licenses, and automate access controls.

This article will explore the role of SAM tools, the limitations they face in managing SaaS, and how combining them with a SaaS management platform can help solve these challenges.

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TL;DR

• Traditional SAM tools are effective for on-premise software but fall short in managing SaaS applications due to gaps in visibility and control.
• SaaS management platforms (SMPs) bridge these gaps by detecting unsanctioned apps, providing deeper usage data, and optimizing license allocation.
• SMPs automate procurement, renewal cycles, and deprovisioning processes to prevent inefficiencies and reduce costs.
• CloudEagle.ai offers complete visibility, detailed telemetry, and centralized vendor management, enhancing SaaS oversight.
• Integrating SMPs with SAM tools provides a comprehensive approach to managing software assets, improving decision-making, and maximizing savings.

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Role of SAM Tools in IT Management

Software Asset Management tools are essential for businesses to manage their software assets effectively. At their core, SAM tools track software licenses, provide high-level usage insights, ensure compliance with licensing agreements, and manage the overall costs associated with software usage.

1. Software License Tracking: SAM tools help keep an accurate inventory of software licenses within the organization, ensuring that each license is properly assigned and tracked. This avoids confusion and allows for better management of resources.

For example, if a company has purchased 100 licenses for Microsoft Office, the SAM tool ensures that the number of installations does not exceed this limit, preventing unnecessary purchases or penalties.

2. Compliance Management: SAM tools help companies comply with licensing agreements and avoid hefty fines. By tracking license usage, these tools ensure that organizations don’t exceed the terms of their contracts.

For example, during an audit, SAM tools can quickly generate reports showing that the company is compliant with its software agreements.

3. Cost Management: SAM tools help manage software costs by identifying redundant or underutilized software. If employees are using multiple applications for the same function, such as different tools for project management, the SAM tool can highlight these redundancies. This insight allows the company to consolidate software and cut costs.

Overall, SAM tools help businesses stay organized, compliant, and cost-effective when managing their software assets. However, they are not without limitations, especially when it comes to managing modern SaaS applications.

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Limitations of SAM Tools in Providing Complete SaaS Management

Furthermore, despite their effectiveness in managing traditional software assets, SAM tools encounter significant challenges in the modern SaaS environment. As organizations adopt more cloud-based applications, these tools often fail to keep pace with the unique needs of SaaS management.

1. Incomplete Discovery of SaaS Applications

One of the major limitations of traditional Software Asset Management tools is their struggle to fully discover all SaaS applications within an organization. Unlike traditional software that’s often centrally managed, many SaaS applications are acquired and used independently by employees. This creates gaps in visibility that SAM tools find challenging to address.

For instance, consider Sarah, an IT manager at a mid-sized company. Despite having a robust SAM tool, Sarah noticed several new SaaS applications being used across departments, which her tool had not detected. This was largely due to employees purchasing and using these apps without IT's knowledge—a phenomenon known as Shadow IT.

Here are some of the Major Issues:

• Shadow IT: Many employees start using unsanctioned apps without informing IT, leading to a lack of visibility and control.
• Detection Challenges: SAM tools often miss these apps because they are not designed to monitor decentralized SaaS acquisitions.
• Inconsistent Usage Tracking: Even when some apps are detected, SAM tools may fail to accurately track usage patterns, making it difficult to identify redundant or underused apps that could be optimized or decommissioned.

To better manage this, organizations need advanced SaaS management tools that provide a comprehensive view of all applications being used, regardless of how they were acquired. This allows for improved oversight and ensures that all software, whether sanctioned or not, is tracked and managed effectively.

2. Lack of Deep Telemetry

One key limitation of SAM tools is their inability to provide detailed insights into how SaaS applications are used within an organization. These tools often lack the necessary integration with various SaaS platforms, which restricts their ability to gather deep usage data. Without this level of insight, optimizing software usage becomes challenging.

For example, let's take John, a procurement manager at a large tech company. His SAM tool could only track the number of SaaS licenses purchased and who was using them. However, it couldn't tell how often those licenses were being used or if certain features were underutilized.

This made it difficult for John to identify opportunities to save costs or reallocate licenses effectively.

Challenges with Limited Telemetry:

• Shallow Insights: SAM tools can show who has access to an app, but they often can't reveal detailed usage patterns like how many meetings were booked on Zoom or how many campaigns were launched on MailChimp.
• Missed Opportunities: Without deeper data, it’s harder to optimize SaaS spending or identify unused licenses.

CloudEagle.ai, on the other hand, integrates directly with SaaS applications and provides more comprehensive usage analytics. By offering deeper telemetry, gives organizations the tools they need to make informed decisions about license renewals, usage patterns, and cost optimization.

3. Inability to Handle SaaS-Specific Procurement and Renewals

SAM tools often struggle with managing the unique needs of SaaS procurement and renewals. Unlike traditional software, SaaS applications come with frequent updates, variable pricing, and contract complexities that SAM tools may not be equipped to handle efficiently.

This creates challenges in staying on top of renewals, managing costs, and ensuring compliance with contract terms.

Take the example of Eric, the IT manager at a mid-sized firm. He relied on a SAM tool to track software licenses, but when it came to SaaS contracts, things got complicated. His tool couldn't handle the constant renewals, fluctuating costs, or multiple vendors. As a result, he often missed renewal deadlines or ended up paying more for underutilized services.

Challenges in managing SaaS-Specific Procurement and Renewals:

• Missed Deadlines: SAM tools may not have automated reminders for SaaS contract renewals, leading to unexpected renewals or service interruptions.
• Contract Complexities: SaaS contracts often have different terms, which can be hard to track without specialized tools.
• Overpayments: Without proper insights, organizations can end up renewing unused services or paying for overpriced contracts.

This complexity requires tools that can handle the nuances of SaaS procurement and renewal cycles, reducing the risk of contract mismanagement.

4. Limited Integration with Modern ITSM and Procurement Workflows

SAM tools frequently face challenges when integrating with modern IT service management (ITSM) and procurement systems, which can create inefficiencies in software management processes.

Many organizations rely on ITSM platforms to manage service requests, incidents, and workflows, but when SAM tools don’t sync seamlessly with these systems, it leads to disjointed operations.Take Mark, for example, a procurement officer at a tech firm. His SAM tool worked fine for managing software licenses, but it didn’t integrate with the ITSM system used by his team.

This disconnect meant that when an employee requested a new software license, the IT team had to manually transfer the data from one system to another, wasting time and creating room for errors.

Challenges due to Limited Integration:

• Manual Data Transfer: Without integration, teams have to manually sync information between systems, increasing workloads and the chances of mistakes.
• Inefficient Workflows: ITSM systems streamline processes like procurement requests and incident management, but the lack of integration with SAM tools forces teams to handle these tasks separately.
• Delays in Procurement: When procurement workflows aren’t automated, approvals and purchases are delayed, affecting operational efficiency.

To operate smoothly, organizations need tools that can bridge the gap between SAM and ITSM systems, ensuring that procurement and management workflows are aligned and streamlined.

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Enhancing SAM with SaaS Management Capabilities

With the rapid growth of SaaS applications, many organizations find that their SAM tools fall short. By incorporating a specialized SaaS management platform, companies can strengthen their SAM capabilities significantly.

1. Complete Visibility and Deeper Usage Insights

SaaS management platforms, like CloudEagle.ai, excel by integrating with over 500 different SaaS applications, offering complete visibility into every tool in use.

This makes sure that even unauthorized apps, often referred to as Shadow IT, are detected and managed early on.

Rec Room, a company using CloudEagle.ai, was able to gain full transparency into the free apps used by its teams. Before this, unsanctioned apps would often go unnoticed, leading to potential security risks. With CloudEagle’s monitoring and alerts, these apps are now identified at the earliest stage, helping the company stay ahead.

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Accurate Data Collection: CloudEagle.ai integrates seamlessly with SSO, HRIS, and finance systems, allowing accurate data gathering for all SaaS tools. This makes it easier to track apps that are underutilized, duplicated, or unnecessarily active.

Optimized Resource Allocation: Insights into application usage allow companies to reallocate resources effectively, eliminating unused apps and focusing on the tools that deliver the highest value. This leads to cost reductions and improved resource management.

2. License Management and License Harvesting

Managing SaaS licenses is simplified with platforms like CloudEagle.ai. Many organizations lose money on unused or expired licenses because they lack a real-time view of their license inventory. CloudEagle.ai automates license management, ensuring that unused licenses are reclaimed and utilized efficiently.

RingCentral streamlined its license management with CloudEagle’s license reclamation workflows, facilitating the easy de-provisioning of users and recovering unused licenses, resulting in significant cost savings and improved efficiency. Here’s their success story →

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Automated License Tracking: CloudEagle’s automation keeps track of license usage, ensuring optimal allocation and reducing unnecessary expenditure.

Cost Efficiency: By reclaiming unused licenses and optimizing overall license use, companies can cut down on unnecessary spending and focus their budgets on essential software.

3. Procurement and Renewal Management

Managing software procurement and renewals can become overwhelming when dealing with numerous vendors and contracts. SaaS management platforms like CloudEagle.ai simplify this process by automating procurement workflows and renewal reminders.

This ensures you never miss important deadlines, reducing the risk of paying for redundant services or facing interruptions due to expired contracts.

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Automated Renewal Alerts: CloudEagle.ai sends timely notifications for upcoming renewals, allowing your team to stay ahead and plan for contract negotiations in

advance.

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Simplified Procurement: The platform streamlines the procurement process with no-code, automated workflows, enabling your team to focus on strategic decisions rather than administrative tasks. This leads to better vendor relationships and smoother purchasing cycles.

4. Vendor and Contract Management

Vendor management becomes much easier when you have all your contracts and vendor data centralized in one platform. CloudEagle.ai’s AI metadata extraction helps manage and store contract details, renewal dates, and vendor performance in a single dashboard.

This eliminates the need for spreadsheets and allows you to negotiate smarter by having all the necessary contract data at your fingertips.

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Centralized Dashboard: All vendor and contract data is stored in one place, making it easier to access information and avoid miscommunication with suppliers.

Smart Negotiations: With all contract metadata available, you can negotiate more effectively and make informed decisions about renewals, cancellations, or vendor changes.

5. Provisioning and Deprovisioning

Provisioning and deprovisioning employees are critical in ensuring that the right people have access to the right tools while preventing unauthorized access.

CloudEagle.ai automates these processes, ensuring that new employees are quickly granted access to necessary apps and departing employees are promptly deprovisioned from all systems.

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Zero-Touch Onboarding: New employees can be provisioned with access to all relevant apps from day one, enhancing productivity and reducing manual workload for IT teams.

Automated Deprovisioning: When employees leave, their access is automatically removed, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive company data.

By incorporating SaaS management tools like CloudEagle.ai into your operations, you can streamline procurement, optimize vendor relationships, and automate key processes, saving both time and money.

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Conclusion

Expanding the capability of your SAM tool with SaaS management can provide a more comprehensive approach to managing software applications.

The takeaway here is that integrating SaaS management with your existing SAM toolset allows for a more holistic, efficient, and cost-effective approach to software management, improving overall performance and productivity.

CloudEagle.ai is the ideal SaaS management platform to expand your SAM tool's capabilities. With its powerful features like complete visibility, automated procurement and renewal workflows, advanced license harvesting, and centralized vendor management, CloudEagle ensures you have complete control over your software management.

Trusted by industry leaders for simplifying complex software environments, CloudEagle allows organizations to make smarter decisions, reduce manual work, and optimize software spending.

For any business looking to enhance its SAM strategy, CloudEagle.ai stands out as the top choice.

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Expanding the Capability of SAM Tool with SaaS Management: FAQs

Q1. What is the main purpose of a SAM tool?

Ans. A Software Asset Management tool helps organizations track and manage software licenses, ensuring compliance with agreements and avoiding legal risks. It also optimizes software usage by identifying underutilized licenses, helping to reduce costs.

Q2. How does a SAM tool benefit IT teams?

Ans. SAM tools simplify software management by automating license tracking, detecting unauthorized software, and managing compliance. IT teams benefit from better visibility into software usage, allowing them to optimize costs, streamline software procurement, and enhance overall security.

Q3. Can SAM tools help in managing SaaS applications?

Ans. Traditional SAM tools primarily manage on-premise software, but they often struggle with SaaS applications. However, integrating a SaaS management platform enhances SAM by providing complete visibility and deeper insights into SaaS usage, licenses, and compliance.

Q4. How does SaaS management improve procurement in SAM tools?

Ans. SaaS management platforms automate procurement and renewal processes by centralizing vendor and contract management. This ensures that businesses never miss renewals and can negotiate better deals with vendors, avoiding costly mistakes and unnecessary renewals.

Q5. What challenges do organizations face when integrating SAM tools with SaaS management?

Ans. Organizations often struggle with incomplete visibility into their software landscape, as traditional SAM tools may not recognize all SaaS applications in use. Additionally, integrating these tools can be complex, requiring a comprehensive strategy to ensure seamless data flow and accurate insights.

Q6. What is the most effective tool for enhancing SAM with SaaS management capabilities?

Ans. CloudEagle.ai is an excellent option for elevating your SAM processes. With over 500 integrations, it provides complete visibility into software usage, automates license management, and streamlines procurement, making it a powerful choice for optimizing software assets.

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