SaaS Concerns Every Business Should Address in 2023

The past decade has seen an explosion in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology, making it a common and essential part of modern businesses. Despite its steadily increasing popularity, many organizations are uncertain about the future of SaaS. As we look ahead to 2023, there are certain SaaS concerns every business should address if they want to stay competitive.

Businesses should take note of the various SaaS concerns that may arise and prepare for them. From security to data privacy, there are numerous issues that need to be addressed to ensure your business is running smoothly.

SaaS refers mostly to the services your business is using that are delivered through the cloud. Let’s explore the top SaaS concerns this year and how you can address them.

Data Breaches and Access

Through 2025, “90% of the organizations that fail to control public cloud use will inappropriately share sensitive data,” according to Gartner. This means data breaches and access coordination will be top SaaS concerns for the foreseeable future.

The strategies that your business uses to control your in-house cloud use often fall behind in the race to get your cloud solutions up and running within your departments’ day-to-day operations. That means there is vital training and conduct best practices that aren’t being taught from the beginning of that cloud use.

This can lead to gaps in the protection and safe use of your cloud-based data. And since nearly 100% of businesses depend on cloud solutions for at least part of their operations, this risk isn’t a possibility – it’s unavoidable.

The first thing to focus on in 2023 is the way you grant access to your cloud users and how they use that access. It’s nearly impossible to create public cloud solutions that perfectly lock down access without also creating ease-of-use issues.

SaaS Security Monitoring Responsibilities

80% of employees admit that they are using applications that are not approved by a business’s IT experts and partners. A top priority this year should be getting to know exactly what your cloud solutions are doing for you and who is responsible for protecting those assets. There isn’t a hard and fast rule – too many cloud service providers are looking to change the game for their clients, and they’re doing that in a myriad of ways. The discussion about whether the customer (your business) or the supplier (the software provider). Because cloud service providers often have a range of packages and subscriptions to choose from, the answer isn’t as cut-and-dry as you might think.

Make sure you take time to meet with a service provider who shows you the ins and outs of their services and can also walk you through or send you paperwork about which areas your cloud service contracts cover – including cybersecurity management and operations.

At Verve, our goal is to get (and keep) your business running in the most efficient and cost-effective ways. We don’t just provide you with the tools you need, we can also help you ensure you are using them correctly and at full capacity.

Clearly defining who is responsible for these SaaS concerns and security efforts can also help mitigate risk and catch breaches early on. Ransomware and email phishing attempts have increased recently. And with more of your workforce working remotely or on personal devices, your network and cloud security protocols should be at the top of the list of concerns.

Misconfigurations

This year’s list of growing SaaS concerns wouldn’t be complete without misconfigurations. The configurations that run your cloud solutions (settings, user roles, permissions, and more) can have millions of buttons, check boxes, and toggles that need to align to work properly.

Security and other configuration changes are evolving with every system update and patch. That is a lot of information your systems have to keep aligned. And any misconfigurations can affect pieces of your system that may not seem closely linked but are connected nonetheless.

The Hacker News shared several insights recently about how to watch for and reduce misconfigurations:

• Security teams (whether internal or external to your company) should onboard an SSPM solution that can provide full visibility and control across SaaS apps and solutions.
• Focus on solutions that address both global app settings and platform-specific configurations. These solutions should be able to identify which users are subject to specific misconfigurations, the presence (or absence) of admin status in misconfiguration history, and whether or not MFA was enabled at the time of the misconfiguration.

Disaster Recovery

Too many unpredictable threats exist to leave your disaster recovery strategy the same year after year. Even with the most sophisticated security tools and IT teams at your disposal, something could happen that renders part or all of your cloud-based data corrupted, lost, or stolen.

This is the year of asking the right questions before you have to scramble for answers during a crisis. It’s important that you know where (physically and electronically) your data is stored and backed up. While 17,000 of the world’s 30,000 SaaS companies are based in the United States, you should always double-check with your service providers and ask what the locations and protocols are for your data backups and disaster recovery purposes.

Verve is Your Solution to SaaS Concerns

At Verve, our goal is to help your people use their technology and SaaS as seamlessly as possible. That’s why our managed IT services and offerings can be scaled to fit your company’s specific needs, including but not limited to:

• All-you-can-eat service
• Security services and products
• Backup and disaster recovery
• Strategic planning
• Server replacement
• and more

Give us a call today or click the green chat icon to talk to one of Verve’s expert team members.