#Altitude21 Day 2 Recap: SaaS Management Platforms Are on the Rise, and Woz Stops By for a Chat

I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve said that you can’t secure what you can’t see. But that’s because it’s true—and it’s one of several reasons why experts agree SaaS management platforms (SMPs) are on the rise.  

On the second day of Altitude 2021, our Chief Product Officer Jim Brennan chatted with a high-ranking analyst at Gartner about how the burgeoning SMP category will revolutionize IT. We also heard from Steve Wozniak, whose Wikipedia page correctly states that he’s one of the pioneers of the personal computer revolution.

Here are a few key takeaways from a jam-packed day. There’s still time to join the fun, though. Grab a seat for Day 3 here, where you’ll also be able to access all of the sessions you missed this week. 

SMPs have revolutionized the way IT controls a multi-SaaS environment

How many files do you think BetterCloud has helped its customers find? If your answer is “over 10 million,” congratulations! You win a free subscription to our Daily Monitor newsletter. 

All jokes aside, that is a staggering number. And as we discovered on Day 2 of Altitude, it’s just one of the ways BetterCloud has empowered IT to discover, manage, and secure its SaaS applications. It also illustrates the growing importance of the entire SMP market.

According to Manjunath Bhat, VP Analyst at Gartner, organizations are relying on SaaS applications because they represent a tangible competitive advantage. Bhat adds that Gartner’s research suggests that SaaS will account for 60% of all software purchased in the enterprise. 

“Organizations have become a distributed enterprise, not merely a remote enterprise.”

Manjunath Bhat, VP Analyst at Gartner

In response, Bhat says that there are three keys to manage, secure, and govern SaaS:

1. Visibility and cost control
2. Management and automation
3. Security and governance

You might already see where he’s going, but these align really well with what BetterCloud offers—and it’s also why Bhat says companies invest in SMPs like ours. 

Are we really proud of this? You bet. But we’re not resting on our laurels, either. Our CPO Jim Brennan took us through how we’ll evolve the product to support the evolving needs of IT, especially as SaaS continues to proliferate across the enterprise. Check out those product announcements here. 

Steve Wozniak has a few thoughts on how IT should impact your business

If you were hoping to hear Woz talk about the Apple II computer, you were in luck. But he also had a lot to say about IT’s role in a thriving modern business. 

During a wide-ranging conversation with our VP of Engineering Lorinda Brandon, Woz reflected on how, in the past, just one or two people at a company had a personal computer. Now, IT is responsible for choosing the technology that enables people to do their jobs—and today, that means IT is mostly responsible for choosing the right software. 

Of course, Wozniak didn’t stop there. Now that companies rely so heavily on SaaS, he believes that IT should constantly be thinking of ways to free employees from thinking too much about their day-to-day. 

The most famous example of freeing up end users’ brainspace? The iPhone. “[Steve Jobs] made the phone work well for himself,” Wozniak continued. “He made it for himself, and it turned out there were a lot of people like him.”

So how can IT innovate and play a leading role in an organization’s success? According to Wozniak, the solution is simple: Build systems that enable your employees to work the way they prefer to work.                                                             

Additional suggested viewing from yesterday’s Altitude sessions

Still not convinced that you should go back and watch all of yesterday’s sessions? Here are just a few that I think are worth your time (Spoiler: They’re all worth your time).

• BetterCloud + VMware Workspace ONE: Unified Vision and Product Demonstration. Hear from product experts from VMware and BetterCloud about what our new partnership means for the future of your business—and get a sneak peek at VMware’s new Workspace ONE product.
• Path to Zero Touch ULM with Gainsight. The dream of zero touch IT is alive and well. Hear from Gainsight’s Senior SaaSOps Engineer Brandon Wolf about how his team has been able to achieve just that. 
• Leveraging Data to Build a High Visibility SaaSOps Practice. Join us to discover how BetterCloud helps IT teams get thorough, data-driven visibility into their SaaS operations.

This is just a small sample of what you missed yesterday. Check out yesterday’s entire slate of Altitude sessions by registering here.