Topic starter
09/07/2026 3:31 pm
TL;DR: SaaS management has shifted from cost control to identity governance as organisations use more software, share accounts, and struggle to answer who is using what and why, according to Efecte. The operational problem is not app count alone but accountability, access visibility, and offboarding discipline across managed and unmanaged SaaS.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Efecte: “Six steps towards successful SaaS management”.
Key questions
Q: What breaks when SaaS licenses are managed only as a cost-control exercise?
A: Access ownership becomes opaque, dormant accounts remain assigned, and service accounts can keep consuming entitlements without a clear business need.
Q: Why does shared SaaS access create both billing and security risk?
A: A shared login breaks the link between the user, the entitlement, and the paid seat, so usage data no longer supports accurate billing or accountable access.
Q: Who should own unmanaged SaaS applications?
A: Unmanaged SaaS applications should be brought under explicit business and technical ownership as soon as they are discovered.
Practitioner guidance
- Map SaaS ownership to named business and IT roles Assign clear responsibility for renewals, licenses, budgets, and access decisions so each application has an accountable owner.
- Inventory who uses each SaaS application Capture user-level access and business purpose for every major SaaS tool, then review whether each account still matches an active use case.
- Review shared accounts and offboarding paths Find applications where passwords are shared or access survives employee exit, then align revocation with offboarding so stale access is removed promptly.
Bottom line: SaaS management now reaches beyond procurement because identity, access, and ownership determine whether the application estate is actually governable.
Explore further
View Full Forum → | NHI Foundation Course → | Our Services → | Read the full analysis →
09/07/2026 3:52 pm
SaaS management is now an identity governance discipline: once software use becomes distributed across the business, the governance problem is no longer just license optimisation. It becomes a question of identity accountability, entitlement ownership, and lifecycle control across every application the enterprise depends on. Practitioners should treat SaaS management as part of IAM and IGA, not as a separate admin function.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
A question worth separating out:
Q: When should teams prioritise SaaS access review over app rationalisation?
A: Teams should prioritise access review when they cannot answer who uses each app, when shared accounts exist, or when offboarding is inconsistent. Rationalisation still matters, but access review is the first control that restores accountability and shows where the real governance gaps sit.
👉 Read our full editorial: SaaS management is now an identity governance problem