Why are Browser Plugins Not Enough For SaaS Visibility and Management?

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Have you ever relied on browser plugins to keep track of your organization's SaaS apps? While plugins may seem like a quick and easy solution for application visibility, they often fail to provide the complete overview you need to manage your SaaS stack.

Browser plugins have limitations—they only track applications accessed through web browsers and miss software used outside them, such as desktop tools or mobile apps. Relying solely on browser plugins can create blind spots, leading to unnecessary costs and risks.

To truly stay in control of your SaaS ecosystem, you need a more comprehensive solution, like a dedicated SaaS management platform. It ensures complete visibility and equips you with tools to manage your software efficiently and cost-effectively.

Let’s explore how you can enhance your organization’s SaaS visibility and management.

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TL;DR

• Browser plugins only track web-based SaaS apps, missing desktop and mobile tools, creating blind spots in SaaS visibility.
• They lack key features like spending tracking, license optimization, renewal management, and can’t provide actionable insights.
• A dedicated SaaS management platform like CloudEagle.ai offers complete visibility across all applications, including shadow IT.
• CloudEagle.ai automates license management, renewal tracking, and cost optimization, helping reduce waste and improve SaaS efficiency.
• For enhanced security, compliance, and cost savings, CloudEagle.ai provides comprehensive tools to manage your entire SaaS ecosystem.

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What are browser plugins?

Browser plugins are small programs that enhance the functionality of web browsers. In SaaS management, they track and monitor web-based applications used by your organization, such as Google Drive, Salesforce, etc. Logging how frequently employees access these tools through the browser offers a basic view of app usage.

Browser plugins, like Chrome browser plugins and Firefox browser plugins, are useful for adding specific features to your browsing experience, such as blocking ads or managing passwords. However, they are limited in gaining visibility into SaaS applications.

Are they effective for SaaS visibility and management?

Browser plugins are helpful for basic SaaS tracking but fall short regarding comprehensive management. These offers:

• Limited scope: Browser plugins only track web-based applications, which are missing desktop and mobile tools.
• Lack of advanced features: They can’t effectively track SaaS spending, manage renewals, or optimize SaaS licenses.
• Incomplete insights: Provide basic, reactive insights instead of proactive management, leaving gaps in visibility.
• Inefficiency risks: Relying solely on browser plugins may result in inefficiencies and higher costs.

You need a dedicated software solution for complete SaaS management, providing better control, visibility, and automation for a more efficient and secure experience. Relying solely on browser plugins can lead to inefficiencies and unnecessary spending due to their limited capabilities.

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Limitations of browser plugins for SaaS visibility

Browser plugins add different functionality to your web browser, helping track and manage web-based SaaS apps. However, they have limitations when fully managing your SaaS stack.

Here's a quick overview of what these browser plugins cannot do:

• Incomplete visibility: Relying on browser plugins alone provides a partial view of your SaaS stack. With more apps being used across different devices (e.g., desktops, mobile), plugins often miss crucial data, leaving gaps in SaaS visibility.
• Tracks only web-based apps: Browser plugins can monitor only SaaS tools accessed through web browsers, like email clients, CRM systems, and project management apps (e.g., Google Drive, Salesforce, Trello, etc).
• Limited to browser usage: Since they only function within the browser, these plugins miss out on monitoring other types of software used outside the web environment, such as desktop apps, mobile apps, and SaaS tools running on other platforms.
• Cannot drive tangible savings: Usage data from browser plugins is too limited to make informed optimization decisions, preventing cost-saving actions like license reclamation or contract renegotiations.
• Lack of spending and financial tracking: Plugins typically can’t track how much your organization spends on each SaaS tool or whether those subscriptions are optimized. They can't provide financial insights, renewal tracking, or cost management, key aspects of SaaS management.
• No license management: Browser plugins can't help optimize SaaS licenses or track whether teams are using the right level of service. For instance, they can’t identify if a user is paying for a premium license when only a basic one is needed.
• Security and compliance risks: Since browser plugins don’t typically track usage across all platforms, relying solely on them can expose organizations to risks, such as unmonitored apps leading to compliance issues or security vulnerabilities.
• Lack of centralized control: Unlike SaaS management platforms, browser plugins do not provide a centralized view of all your organization’s software, making it harder to control, manage, or optimize your software ecosystem.

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Why do you need a SaaS management platform?

Managing SaaS apps becomes more challenging as companies adopt more applications. While browser plugins and basic tools offer some insights, they fall short of providing complete control and visibility.

To address these gaps, organizations should use dedicated SaaS management platforms. These platforms track all software usage, whether browser-based, desktop, or mobile.

Here are the main reasons for using a SaaS management platform:

1. Complete visibility across the SaaS ecosystem

A SaaS management platform offers full visibility into your organization's entire SaaS stack. This includes not just web-based tools accessed via browsers but also desktop and mobile applications.

With complete visibility, you can track software usage, monitor spending patterns, and identify underutilized tools—giving you the information needed to make data-driven decisions about your software stack.

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CloudEagle.ai gives you a clear view of all the software your organization uses, whether browser-based, desktop, or mobile apps. It helps you spot underused tools or even apps that are not authorized, known as shadow IT. This ensures you’re not paying for software you don’t need.

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With this complete visibility, you can track how much each app is being used and how much money is being spent. This insight helps you make better decisions, like cutting back on unused tools or consolidating apps, leading to savings and more efficient software usage.

Check out Rec Room's inspiring success story to learn how they used CloudEagle.ai to gain complete visibility into the free apps used by their teams.

2. Extensive integration capabilities

SaaS management platforms integrate seamlessly with various systems, such as single sign-on (SSO), finance software, HR systems, contract management tools, and more.

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These integrations ensure your SaaS ecosystem is fully connected, providing accurate usage, spending, and renewal data. The platform can pull data from multiple sources, offering deeper insights and simplifying the process of managing your tools across departments.

CloudEagle.ai offers over 500 integrations , it can pull data from multiple sources, offering deeper insights into feature-level usage. This helps with easier optimization—something browser plugins cannot achieve. Additionally, automated license management streamlines tasks like reallocating unused licenses and optimizing software costs, further enhancing efficiency.

3. Automated license management

Managing SaaS licenses can be challenging, especially when organizations have multiple users and subscription tiers. A SaaS management platform automates license management by tracking which employees or teams can access which tools, ensuring you're not over-licensing or under-licensing any software.

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It can also recommend downgrades or reassignments when employees no longer need premium features, optimizing costs. By leveraging license harvesting workflows to identify unused or underused licenses, you can reassign them to employees who require those tools, ensuring efficient resource use.

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CloudEagle.ai automates this process, so you don’t have to track who’s using what app  manually. It will also tell you if a license is being underused and recommend downgrading or reassignment, which helps save money.

The platform also lets you reclaim and reassign unused licenses using license harvesting workflows when employees leave or no longer need specific tools. This ensures you’re not wasting resources and that every license is used effectively.

4. Advanced renewal management

Renewals can be a major source of waste in SaaS management. Many organizations pay for apps they no longer use simply because they miss renewal dates or forget to cancel subscriptions.

A SaaS management platform provides advanced renewal management, sending notifications well before renewal dates so you can evaluate whether to continue, renegotiate, or cancel subscriptions before it's too late. This ensures that your organization doesn’t pay for unused or redundant software.

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CloudEagle.ai makes managing SaaS renewals simple. It sends timely reminders 30, 60, 90, and 180 days before your software subscriptions are up for renewal, giving you enough time to assess whether you still need the tool or should cancel it.

It also provides an overview of how each tool is used, helping you decide whether to renew, negotiate a better deal, or drop a subscription. This ensures you don’t end up paying for software you no longer use.

Discover how Falkonry optimized its SaaS renewals with CloudEagle.ai by checking out its success story.

5. Contract management

A key aspect of SaaS management is ensuring vendor contracts align with your organization’s needs and budget. SaaS management platforms often include contract management features that allow you to store, track, and review contract terms in one centralized place.

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With CloudEagle.ai, you can seamlessly store and review all your software contracts in one place. The platform uses AI-powered contract metadata extraction to automatically pull key dates, such as renewal start and end dates, from your contracts. This feature helps set up automatic renewal reminders, ensuring you're always on top of critical contract milestones.

CloudEagle also offers bidirectional integrations with Slack, Jira, ServiceNow, and other tools for smooth contract management. You can manage renewals directly from the platform of your choice, making it easier to stay on track with important timelines, pricing, and terms, no matter where you work.

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By organizing all contracts in one place, CloudEagle.ai helps you avoid overpaying for unused services and ensures your agreements align with your company's goals and budget, driving cost optimization across your SaaS portfolio.

6. Cost optimization

Cost optimization is one of the primary benefits of a SaaS management platform. The platform helps you analyze spending patterns, identify underutilized software, and consolidate subscriptions when possible.

By reviewing the data, you can make informed decisions about keeping, replacing, or consolidating tools, ultimately reducing unnecessary SaaS spending. Many platforms also provide recommendations for better, cost-effective alternatives to your existing tools, ensuring you only pay for what you need.

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CloudEagle.ai helps you optimize SaaS costs by analyzing spending patterns and identifying opportunities to reduce expenses. The platform can pinpoint unused or overlapping tools and recommend more affordable options.

It also compares your software costs against industry standards to find areas for savings. This helps you make smarter decisions about which tools to keep and which to replace or consolidate.

Nicole Jordan-Dahdal, VP of Finance at Clovers, shares insights on optimizing software costs and investing in human capital to drive long-term growth.

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7. Enhanced security and compliance

Security and compliance become top priorities as organizations rely more on cloud-based tools. A SaaS management platform helps enhance security by providing insight into which applications are being used and ensuring that only authorized users have access to sensitive data.

With such tools, you get features like:

• Privileged access: This feature limits access to sensitive data and high-risk applications to only those users with a clear, legitimate need. Privileged access management (PAM) ensures that only trusted individuals can access critical systems or information, reducing the potential for misuse or accidental exposure of sensitive data.
• Time-based access: With time-based access, you can enforce restrictions on when certain users can access specific applications. This could include limiting access to business hours, temporary access for contractors, or restricting access outside specific time frames.
• Role-based access control (RBAC): It helps ensure that users only have access to the applications and data necessary for their organizational roles. By assigning permissions based on job functions rather than individual users, organizations can minimize the risk of over-permissions.
• Automated provisioning and deprovisioning: Automated provisioning ensures that new employees or contractors are given the proper access rights as soon as they join, while deprovisioning guarantees that access is revoked when individuals leave or change roles, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Additionally, it can help ensure compliance with industry regulations by tracking the security certifications and compliance standards of the apps in use. With automatic monitoring of all SaaS tools, the platform helps minimize the risks of security breaches and ensures your organization adheres to legal and regulatory requirements.

The platform also helps maintain compliance with industry regulations by tracking certifications and ensuring the tools you use meet data privacy and security standards. This reduces the risk of security breaches and helps your organization comply with laws like ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA, etc.

In an insightful video, Iffi Wallah, Co-founder and CEO of Edge explains how Edge uses CloudEagle.ai to gain better visibility.

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Conclusion - Why you must opt for CloudEadgle.ai?

Browser plugins provide limited visibility into SaaS usage. They only track browser-based apps and miss tools like desktop or mobile apps. They also lack critical features like spend tracking, license optimization, and renewal management.

This is where CloudEagle.ai stands out as a comprehensive SaaS management platform. The tool offers complete visibility across all SaaS tools, including shadow IT. It integrates with SSO, finance systems, and contract management tools, providing real-time insights into app usage and spending.

With automated renewal tracking and cost optimization, CloudEagle.ai helps organizations reduce waste and negotiate better deals. Opting for CloudEagle.ai enables your team to take control of your SaaS ecosystem, ensuring efficiency, security, and cost savings.

Don’t let browser plugins' limitations hold you back—choose CloudEagle.ai for a smarter, more effective SaaS management strategy.

Schedule a demo with CloudEagle.ai today!

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