It’s that time of year again…budget planning. Now’s the time to assess your current security investments, identify where you have gaps in your security posture, and make a plan to fill those gaps by lobbying for more budget (good luck!), streamlining operations, or trading old tools for new ones.

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There’s no shortage of security tools on the market, and determining which combination of tools will best help you identify, mitigate, and respond to the most critical risks is no easy task. For starters, very few security tools offer a full featured self-service free trial (Nudge Security is a notable exception) which makes it hard to vet new tools and verify that they can make good on their promises—and will play nicely with the rest of your tech stack.

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So…why should you consider putting SaaS security on your short-list for 2025? Here are five reasons other savvy security leaders are prioritizing this enhancement to their security stack.

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1. Modern work runs on SaaS.

When’s the last time you used something other than a cloud-based app to do your work? Can’t remember? Me neither.

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Outside of a few highly regulated, slow-moving industries, SaaS has taken over as the dominant delivery model for workplace technology. And, this delivery model makes it incredibly easy for knowledge workers to operate as “citizen CIOs”, creating new accounts for whatever tool they think will help them work more efficiently.

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In fact, our data shows that the average employee creates one new SaaS account roughly every two weeks. For an organization with 100 employees, that’s 200 new SaaS accounts per month. And, each of these SaaS identities expands the organization’s attack surface while creating a new way for sensitive data to leak out of the organization.

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There’s no way to “put the toothpaste back in the tube” so to speak. The only way that IT and security leaders can hope to secure this dynamic attack surface is with a solution that can deliver continuous SaaS discovery along with just-in-time prompts to help those citizen CIOs take appropriate steps to secure their accounts.

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2. Your SaaS footprint is an attractive target to attackers.

The 2024 Verizon DBIR found that web applications (aka SaaS) top the list of asset varieties compromised in incidents, with roughly 50% of incidents in the report involving web applications. And, according to a recent report from Crowdstrike, 80% of breaches today use compromised identities, including cloud and SaaS credentials.

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Additionally, Gartner’s first-ever Magic Quadrant for SaaS Management Platforms highlighted the increased risk organizations face by not taking control of SaaS governance:

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“Through 2027, organizations that fail to centrally manage SaaS life cycles will remain five times more susceptible to a cyber incident or data loss due to incomplete visibility into SaaS usage and configuration.”

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Surprises are never pleasant in the IT security world. Gaining visibility into your SaaS attack surface makes it possible to proactively secure your accounts and data, mitigating the risk of disruptive surprises in the form of security incidents.

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3. GenAI governance is SaaS governance.

Concern around governance of generative AI use has emerged as a top source of anxiety for security leaders for 2024. And what do virtually all generative AI apps have in common? You guessed it: they are all delivered as SaaS.

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Since ChatGPT started making waves in early 2023, Nudge Security has discovered almost 850 unique GenAI apps in customer environments, demonstrating the rapid pace of AI adoption. It is simply impossible for IT teams to keep track of this explosion of new tools, much less secure and govern them, without a method of automated discovery that does not require prior knowledge of an app’s existence.

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4. Weak SaaS security can have legal and regulatory repercussions.

As the pace of modern work continues to drive SaaS adoption, organizations are storing more and more data within SaaS apps—and regulators are paying attention. Data stored in SaaS apps may fall under data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, security standards such as ISO 27001 and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and industry-specific compliance requirements like HIPAA and PCI DSS. Plus, most contractual promises to customers, partners, or vendors regarding data handling and security also extend to data stored within SaaS apps.

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And, SEC rules published in 2023 require public companies to disclose material cybersecurity incidents within four business days after a registrant determines that a cybersecurity incident is material. Additionally, detailed information regarding their cybersecurity risk management and governance practices must be included in their annual 10-K filings. These rules demonstrate the increased focus on cybersecurity as an indicator of a business’s financial stability.

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5. Effective SaaS governance can (and should) pay for itself.

In addition to reducing risk, effective SaaS governance can also help you eliminate wasted SaaS spend by identifying unused accounts, unneeded paid licenses, redundant tools, and “shadow tenants.”

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Using reference data from Gartner (login required), the average organization spends $1,169 per employee annually on SaaS subscriptions. And, Gartner estimates that 25% of all SaaS subscriptions are underutilized or over-deployed. The math here is pretty simple: reducing wasted SaaS spend could save roughly $292 per employee annually. For an organization of 1,000 employees, that’s $292,000 per year in savings which can easily cover the cost for a SaaS management tool, with money left over to fund other important initiatives, or improve the bottom line. (This is why finance and procurement teams love Nudge Security.)

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Take the next step.

Implementing a SaaS security solution can be much faster and easier than you might think. You can deploy Nudge Security in just a few simple steps, and you’ll have a full SaaS inventory (including up to two years of SaaS spend history) in minutes.

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Start a free trial to see for yourself.