A SaaS estate refers to the entire collection of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications and services that an organization uses. For example, this includes all the cloud-based applications connected to the organizations through the downloading or onboarding by employees and users. SaaS applications within the SaaS estate are typically used for various business functions such as communication, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), project management, and more.
From a SaaS security perspective, managing a SaaS estate involves overseeing the procurement, deployment, usage, security, and compliance aspects of these applications. It’s critical to ensure that the apps within the SaaS estate are being used efficiently and cost-effectively while maintaining the security and integrity of the data accessed and stored within them. The idea of a SaaS estate shows the growing complexity of managing multiple SaaS applications within an organization, as well as the need for strategic oversight to optimize their usage and ensure they align with the company’s business objectives, security and regulatory requirements.