‍In the era of a SaaS-dominant IT environment, IGA without SaaS management is incomplete. By integrating SaaS discovery and governance, organizations protect themselves from security, compliance, and cost pitfalls while also building a future-ready identity strategy.

Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) focuses on ensuring the right individuals have the appropriate access to the right resources at the right time. 

Traditionally, IGA has been viewed through the lens of on-premises systems or major enterprise applications with robust connectors. However, in today’s digital landscape, most of the resources are delivered via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

Because of this, IGA can no longer ignore SaaS management — it’s a critical piece of a modern identity governance framework.

1. Shadow IT: The Hidden Risk

One of the biggest challenges modern organizations face is “shadow IT”—SaaS applications adopted without formal IT approval. Since many SaaS apps can be initiated with just a credit card or free trial, employees and departments often adopt them without proper oversight.

• Proliferation of Unseen Tools: If an IGA program fails to discover these apps, it leaves a significant visibility gap.
• Elevated Security Risks: Without proper governance, former employees or external contractors may retain access to these SaaS apps indefinitely, leading to data exposure and compliance violations.

2. Ensuring Complete Access Visibility

One of the key reasons for implementing identity governance solutions is to apply the principle of least privilege—giving users only the access they need, while revoking it promptly when it’s no longer necessary. However, most organizations have dozens or hundreds of SaaS apps in use across various departments:

• No Discovery, No Control: If you don’t know an application exists, you can’t govern user entitlements for it.
• Lifecycle Management: Hiring, transfers, and terminations all rely on accurate, up-to-date access information. In a SaaS-driven world, accurate access to information is only possible with thorough discovery.

3. Regulatory and Audit Imperatives

From GDPR to SOX and HIPAA, organizations must demonstrate that they can monitor and control access to sensitive data.

• Audit Trails: Without SaaS visibility, there’s no comprehensive record of changes in user entitlements, which can result in failed audits or fines.
• Demonstrating Compliance: Regulators are increasingly focusing on the entire IT environment, not just on-premises or known enterprise applications. Any hidden SaaS applications can become a liability.

4. Operational Efficiency and Cost Control

IGA isn’t just about security and compliance—it’s about efficiency and business enablement.

• License Optimization: When SaaS apps go unmanaged, organizations risk overpaying for unused or duplicate licenses.
• Streamlined Processes: Automated provisioning and deprovisioning for all apps on a single central platform saves time and effort. Manual processes become cumbersome and error-prone when you have to chase access details across unknown SaaS portals.

Conclusion

IGA is about governance and administration of all user entitlements. As the modern software ecosystem increasingly relies on SaaS tools, any IGA strategy that fails to account for these cloud-based applications will have fundamental blind spots. By incorporating SaaS management—especially proactive discovery—organizations can ensure a more robust, compliant, and cost-effective identity governance program.

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