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Software-as-as-service management provider Productiv on Sept. 16 launched a new, free-of-charge functionality tier for its enterprise SaaS platform called Productiv Essentials.
This add-on enables enterprises to replace old SaaS spreadsheets with full online visibility–including advanced analytics and feature-level insights–into how their people are using and engaging with their cloud-based applications.
Companies around the globe in various industries are continuing to invest in, adopt and use SaaS applications on an increasing basis. In fact, new survey data from Productiv revealed that more than half of IT executives say their organizations currently 100 SaaS applications or more on a daily basis.
Spreadsheets and surveys are no longer effective for managing fast-developing application usage data, because they are slow and often inaccurate. SaaS management provides deep visibility into how people are using and engaging with applications in real time, CEO Jody Shapiro said in a media advisory.
Essentials also provides the ability to proactively manage renewals. This data-driven approach to SaaS management helps IT leaders determine which applications are (and are not) delivering value along with insights to drive value higher, the company said.
Essentials says it allows enterprises to build a strong SaaS Management foundation with:
- Improved visibility: Productiv Essentials offers a 360-degree view of SaaS applications for simple and effective management. It lets users see their managed applications and connect to common expense systems to uncover shadow IT and expensed applications.
- Renewal management: Productiv Essentials allows companies to track critical renewal data so they can proactively manage and prioritize renewals, instead of chasing down vendors and contracts at the last minute.
- Deep insights into engagement: The best way to manage SaaS applications is to have a complete understanding of how applications are being used by individuals and teams—all the way down to the feature level. Productiv Essentials supports this capability with the ability to report engagement analytics for the video conferencing system of choice.
In conjunction with the launch of Productiv Essentials, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Productiv also announced results of a new survey that further underscores the importance of effective SaaS application management. According to The State of SaaS Management in 2020, 97 percent of those surveyed report that they don’t have complete visibility into how their applications are used by employees.
Also, 88 percent of respondents believe that a central location for SaaS management would simplify internal processes, increase visibility, and provide teams with the opportunity to focus more on strategic initiatives, the company said. However, automation is key to this strategy, with 94 percent noting that managing SaaS applications with manual tools leads to out-of-date information and poor business decision making.
The research was conducted by Pulse on behalf of Productiv. The study polled IT executives to better understand how centralizing SaaS application management can improve visibility into key tool analytics and their company’s bottom line.
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