The rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) has completely transformed the way businesses operate. It has made it easier for organizations to adopt tools that drive productivity, improve collaboration, and scale operations. But with this growing reliance on SaaS comes the responsibility of meeting compliance with data protection laws, internal policies, and vendor-specific agreements. Also, there are concerns over security and control over sensitive data.
Due to the above reasons, organizations find it hard to manage SaaS compliance. At the same time, their operations are closely intertwined with SaaS and its benefits are too high to miss. To address the challenges without compromising on the benefits, many companies are turning to tech platforms like Zluri.
In this article, we’ll explore the key compliance challenges businesses face in managing their SaaS environments, and how Zluri helps organizations to overcome these challenges.
The Growing Complexity of SaaS Compliance
The adoption of SaaS applications offers flexibility, but it also introduces risks related to security and compliance. With multiple departments often independently purchasing SaaS tools, companies may lose visibility over their software usage, making it difficult to track compliance.
Here are some common challenges that come with SaaS usage.
Data Privacy Laws
Various regulations, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S., require businesses to protect sensitive personal information. SaaS vendors handle vast amounts of data, and checking whether each vendor complies with these regulations is difficult. But, at the same time, failure to do so can lead to hefty fines.
Vendor Contracts
Every SaaS tool comes with a contract outlining terms of service, data usage policies, and security standards. Managing and ensuring that each contract adheres to the company’s internal compliance policies and external compliance regulations can be overwhelming, especially when dealing with multiple SaaS applications across different departments.
Data Access and Security
SaaS applications involve multiple users with varying levels of access to sensitive data. Putting access control policies in place, monitoring who has access to what, and preventing unauthorized access can entail a ton of resources.
Audits and Reporting
For compliance with internal governance policies and regulatory requirements, companies must demonstrate the compliance of their SaaS vendors. This means having audit trails, records, and comprehensive reports that are easily accessible. Getting this data from SaaS vendors may not be easy.
Shadow IT
Employees procure and use SaaS applications without IT’s knowledge, leading to a phenomenon called Shadow IT. This creates a huge compliance risk as it leads to unapproved, unmonitored, and potentially insecure applications being used within the company, bypassing compliance policies.
These challenges are hard to overcome for most organizations today. This is where a tech platform that provides real-time visibility, control, and governance over the entire SaaS ecosystem can help.
Zluri: A Comprehensive SaaS Management Platform
Zluri’s platform provides organizations with complete control over their SaaS environment. Its visibility, automation, and governance features help SaaS management and compliance.
Below are some key features of Zluri that streamline SaaS compliance.
Real-time Visibility Across Your SaaS Stack
A major challenge businesses face is the lack of visibility into the various SaaS tools used across the organization. Zluri’s platform solves this by discovering all SaaS applications within your company in real-time, even the ones that are part of Shadow IT.
When you run the scan, Zluri automatically maps out every SaaS application and the associated users, giving you a detailed overview of your entire SaaS stack. This real-time visibility allows you to assess which applications comply with internal policies and external regulations. You can easily track the usage patterns and manage access levels for each application, reducing compliance risks.
Managing Vendor Contracts and Renewals
Keeping track of vendor contracts is another key aspect of compliance. Zluri eases this process as it stores and manages all contracts, license terms, and compliance-related documents in one central location. This centralized storage helps with audits and also enables companies to easily monitor whether each SaaS vendor complies with their specific requirements. Moreover, Zluri sends automated reminders for contract renewals, ensuring that businesses don’t miss any deadlines and remain compliant. This feature eliminates the need to manually track and monitor dozens of SaaS contracts, freeing up time for more important tasks.
Data Privacy and Access Control
As governments introduce new data privacy laws, businesses must take extra precautions to protect sensitive information. Zluri offers businesses complete control to monitor access to SaaS applications. With this option, administrators can set granular access permissions for each employee, allowing only authorized individuals to have access to sensitive data.
Furthermore, Zluri offers automated workflows that can remove access for employees who leave the company or change roles. This prevents former employees from retaining access to critical systems, which can pose a security and compliance risk. Moreover, the platform provides reports detailing who has access to what information, making it easier to demonstrate compliance during audits. These measures bring down the chances for insider threats as well.
Simplified Audit and Reporting
Audits are a necessary part of compliance, but preparing for them can be daunting. Zluri simplifies this by generating detailed audit reports, showing how your company complies with various internal policies and external regulations. This includes tracking SaaS usage, monitoring data access, and ensuring compliance with vendor agreements.
A highlight is its centralized dashboard, where compliance officers can easily generate reports and gain insights into the company’s compliance status. These reports are readily available for internal use or to share with external auditors, thereby streamlining the audit process and reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.
Automating Compliance Tasks
Zluri’s automation features handle repetitive tasks without compromising on compliance. For example, Zluri can automatically deactivate accounts for employees who leave the company, monitor and report SaaS application usage, and flag any vendors that do not meet your compliance standards. These automated processes reduce the burden on IT and compliance teams, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual compliance checks.
Preventing Shadow IT
Shadow IT, where employees use unsanctioned SaaS applications, is one of the biggest compliance risks companies face. Zluri’s platform provides real-time visibility into all SaaS tools, including those not approved by IT, enabling organizations to quickly identify and address compliance gaps.
With these features, Zluri offers the following benefits for organizations.
- End-to-end visibility into the SaaS environment.
- Automation of compliance-related tasks to save time and reduce human error.
- Acts as a single source of truth for all SaaS-related information, including vendor contracts.
- Highly scalable to accommodate businesses of all sizes.
- Discovering SaaS apps automatically to prevent shadow IT.
Final Words
As companies continue to adopt more SaaS applications, managing compliance becomes increasingly complex. Data privacy regulations, vendor contracts, and access controls all need to be closely monitored to avoid risks. Zluri’s platform addresses these challenges by providing the visibility, automation, and control needed to ensure compliance in today’s SaaS-driven environment.
Try Zluri today.