SaaS Trends to Watch: Shadow SaaS, Contract Changes, and ChatGPT Adoption

According to a new study by SaaS management company Productiv, enterprises are gradually reducing the number of unused software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps while increasing SaaS spending. The study surveyed 100 million SaaS licenses within the United States using Productiv’s own services, covering the period from 2021 to 2023. Results show that organizations are anticipated to spend almost $10,000 per employee on SaaS in 2023, with an average department utilizing 87 SaaS apps, marking a 27% increase between 2022 and 2023. Engineering teams were found to use the most SaaS apps, with an average of 108 utilized. In contrast, IT and security teams saw the most significant increase in SaaS app usage between 2022 and 2023. Shadow SaaS apps, which are purchased by employees unknown to the IT team, were detected using Google Social Login and employee expense reports, and appear to be mostly Evernote, Coursera, and Canva.