In the business world, cloud computing has become the norm. Given its dramatic increase in popularity, it’s not unusual for organizations to lean on multiple public cloud services. And in some cases, departments forge out on their own and adopt cloud-based solutions without consulting the IT team—what’s known as shadow IT.
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With these facts in mind, it’s more important than ever for security and IT teams to improve their cloud visibility and response agility. Not only do organizations need to understand who’s using which cloud resources and why, they need to be able to act quickly in order to stop potential threats from taking advantage of the very same dynamism that forms the basis of the cloud’s appeal.
The good news is, software-as-a-service (SaaS) is also making its mark on the landscape of information technology. Case in point: just this past year, Oracle and KPMG released a report where 84% of CISOs shared that SaaS is in use in their organization, making it nearly ubiquitous.
The shift towards SaaS brings several clear benefits for securing cloud and multicloud deployments. Let’s take a look at what those are.
Software-as-a-Service Delivers Essential Benefits
Reduced Costs
Unlike traditional on-premises software installations, SaaS doesn’t require businesses to purchase hardware and licenses. The subscription-based service simply requires customers to subscribe to the software applications they need.
Ease of Deployment
On-premises installations often call for complex wiring and connections, intricate integration processes and extensive testing. With a SaaS offering, an enterprise just needs to plug into the cloud server (configured to their needs) and the system will be up and running in minimal time.
Enhanced Scalability
When business requirements change, it’s important to have flexible technologies in place to support these shifts. With SaaS products, this process is as simple as updating your subscription type. Often, there’s no need for businesses to invest in additional software licenses or server capacity.
Ease of Use
Not only are SaaS offerings easily accessible via desktop and mobile devices, but there are also best practices already intertwined in their user interface. Designed for quality and consistency, SaaS applications tend to have easier learning curves and leave end-users feeling empowered. Plus, SaaS vendors are responsible for management and provisioning, meaning customers don’t need to worry about updates.
How These Benefits Feed Back Into Cloud Security
With a rise in cloud security threats and incidents, it’s more important than ever before for businesses to invest in tools to effectively manage and resolve these issues. Designed to be user-friendly and flexible, SaaS-based security solutions improve visibility in security environments while empowering end-users to collaborate and work together to minimize threats.
With fully managed cloud security solutions, companies can easily scale resources up and down as needed, finally bringing security operations more in line with the cloud-native mindset that DevOps has enjoyed for years.
To learn more about how to uphold your end of the cloud shared responsibility model (SRM) for SaaS, read this blog post.
