BetterCloud Inc. debuted a new platform called Discover at its virtual Altitude event today that’s aimed at giving companies a clearer view of what software-as-a-service applications their workers are using.

The platform is designed to combat so-called shadow IT, the phenomenon of employees using cloud services and other tech products without the information technology team’s knowledge. Cloud services deployed without oversight can introduce cybersecurity risks. Moreover, software purchases made in an uncoordinated manner have the potential to create unnecessary licensing costs.

BetterCloud has carved out a niche for itself selling tools that help IT professionals more efficiently manage their organizations’ SaaS applications. Backed by about $187 million in funding, the New York-based startup says its installed base includes thousands of customers. The Discover platform, the latest addition to its portfolio, promises to provide a central console through which IT professionals can view all the cloud services used by their organizations’ employees.

BetterCloud says Discover detects both approved and unapproved applications. As a result, companies can find instances of shadow IT that they may not have uncovered on their own. 

Discover also enables technology professionals to view more detailed information about cloud applications when needed. To assess potential security risks from an unapproved service, IT teams can use the platform to see what business data it has access to. They can also view how and when employees interact with a service to find potential anomalous activity.

This usage tracking feature doubles as a cost-cutting tool, according to BetterCloud. IT teams can harness it to find cloud applications that haven’t been used by workers in a while, or are being underused relative to how many licenses the company is paying for, and make appropriate spending adjustments. They can also use the data that Discover gleans to create audit reports for other stakeholders inside the organization. 

“SaaS sprawl was already a massive administrative and security problem for most businesses, and the push to remote work has now made this problem more acute,” said BetterCloud Chief Product Officer Jim Brennan.

BetterCloud claims that Discover has already been adopted by “many” of its customers. The company says one adopter, the IT department of battery manufacturer Trojan Battery Co. LLC, discovered about 250 previously unknown applications used by employees with the help of the platform. It had previously been aware of only about 100. 

Photo: BetterCloud