SaaS Usage Statistics: How Much Is Too Much?

It’s hard to keep up with the rapid rise of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) applications in the last five years. SaaS has become the go-to for most organizations, while the industry has proven a consistent leader in tech growth. Companies like Zoom, HubSpot, and Slack went from being unknowns to household names. Now, they each make billions in revenue every year. Cloud-based services from giants like Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce are more integrated into our work lives than ever.

But as businesses increasingly turn to the cloud for their operations, IT teams have started feeling growing pains. Deploying more SaaS apps can cause security incidents and compliance issues. It may also raise concerns about data and visibility. Plus, you might waste money on unused licenses.

SaaS adoption rates have soared over 700% since 2016, and managing SaaS sprawl is becoming an issue for a lot of IT teams.

So, what does the SaaS landscape look like in 2025? Will SaaS usage continue its meteoric rise or will the industry see some consolidation?

SaaS Application Sprawl Statistics: Editor’s Picks

A look at the numbers demonstrates that organizations will continue to invest in SaaS, meaning IT teams will need to find new solutions to deal with challenges created by SaaS sprawl. 

• The global SaaS market is projected to grow to $1.2 trillion by 2032, a 349% increase from current levels.
• In 2025, almost 100% of organizations will deploy at least one SaaS system.

• Forecasts for 2025 reveal that 85% of software businesses use will be SaaS.
• Studies show that organizations use anywhere from 100 to more than 300 SaaS applications, depending on their size and industry. This represents an exponential increase from 2017 when organizations used fewer than 20 SaaS apps.
• SaaS spend ranges between $3,900 to $13,000 per employee.
• IT pros in the SaaS environment face three main challenges: managing configurations consistently, ensuring user visibility, and automating tasks.
• Half of IT pros report that offboarding users from SaaS apps took more than 24 hours to complete, making it a major security concern.
• Spending on native AI apps is at a peak. Almost 90% of IT leaders worry about security risks from cloud-based AI services.

SaaS Usage in IT: The Current Landscape

There are a lot of advantages to using SaaS, and there’s little doubt that specialized SaaS suites make every department more productive. 

Marketing, Sales, HR, Finance, and IT teams use SaaS applications. These tools help them work together, scale operations, and save on hardware costs. Pairing teams with SaaS apps that are tailored for their activities enhances productivity. But it also leaves IT teams to manage an entire organization’s roster of more individual tools. 

And that’s before they take shadow IT into account.

Findings by Productiv show the challenges of dealing with multiple SaaS suites:

•  34% of SaaS purchases are now made by departments outside of IT.
•  In a follow-up with IT leaders, 99% said their day-to-day operations were impacted by dealing with troubles related to SaaS applications. 
• On top of that, less than half of all users were using all SaaS apps licensed to them.
• 94% of IT execs believe manual SaaS management led to suboptimal SaaS spends.

As a result, IT departments have looked to automation as a solution, but multiple surveys show a majority of them lack the resources to implement automation effectively in their SaaS stacks:

• 72% of IT experts say zero-touch SaaS automation will make a significant impact on the use of SaaS apps within the next few years.
• About 60% of organizations use automation in their SaaS workflows. However, many think they can do better with automation.
• Automated SaaS tracking could help reduce both unapproved and underutilized licenses. Some studies show that up to 58% of employees use shadow IT. Also, over 50% of businesses do not fully use the software services they pay for.

BetterCloud’s recent State of SaaS Ops report found that companies on the forefront of automation technology had automated 70% of their routine IT operations. It also found several similarities between automation leaders:

• Automation leaders had meaningful budgets devoted to SaaS management.
• The companies have better than average IT-to-user ratios for their respective industries (meaning fewer IT personnel are needed).
• They deploy more SaaS apps than average, with some topping out over 350.

The Problem: SaaS Sprawl

SaaS sprawl can be costly in terms of time, budgets, and security. When dealing with sprawl, shadow IT and a lack of visibility are the two toughest areas for IT teams to combat. Shadow IT clearly is a cause for security and compliance concerns, but it can also lead to the purchase of redundant applications, unnecessary renewals, and disruptions in workflow for employees with differing SaaS toolsets.

SaaS management platforms (SMPs) and automation are two powerful technical solutions to fight SaaS sprawl. There are several administrative strategies to complement them such as performing audits, setting structured policies, and training employees on best SaaS practices.

Surveys by Gartner, BetterCloud, and Zylo highlight some of the true costs and challenges of SaaS sprawl. 

• 63% of IT decision-makers state improving SaaS visibility is a top priority.
• 20% of IT teams struggle to gain full visibility into their environment.
• Organizations underestimate their SaaS spend by more than 300%.
• More than 90% of IT leaders believe dedicated SMPs help optimize software and reduce SaaS spends.
• 44% of organizations asked IT departments to reduce SaaS spending.
• Business units are responsible for up to 70% of SaaS spends, with IT departments clocking about 26% and shadow IT making up 4%.
• Shadow IT accounts for over 33% of all SaaS apps, with business units coming in at 50% and IT at only 16%.
• Nearly two-thirds of IT leaders experienced unexpected charges on SaaS due to consumption-based or AI pricing models.
• Overall, the average organization wastes over $135,000 on unused licenses.
• Enterprises with over 1,000 employees wasted an average of $21 million on unused licenses.
• IT teams made strides in managing shadow IT over the last few years, nearly doubling the percentage of IT sanctioned apps from 35% to almost 68%.

The Future of SaaS in IT

Three trending areas that are expected to dominate the SaaS landscape in 2025 and beyond are automation and AI. Improvements to both will also enhance the SaaS experience for users, reducing reliance on shadow IT and providing more seamless workflows.

Automation is a priority for many IT departments. Zero-touch automation drastically reduces the number of help desk tickets, allowing human IT teams to focus on more complex tasks. 

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a newer technology being utilized to streamline simple tasks like password resets or app access. It can streamline onboarding and offboarding processes, increasing productivity and reducing vulnerabilities. RPA is also used to track and manage usage, compliance, and subscriptions.

• Surveys indicate that SMPs are the preferred choice for automating SaaS processes, with 75% of IT pros seeking out insight-driven automation.
• IBM reports that organizations with fully deployed automated security save more than $3 million per data breach.
• 67% of IT teams were able to work on strategic projects after successfully implementing automated SaaS solutions.
• But 33% of IT pros reported that integrating legacy apps was a barrier to zero-touch SaaS automation.

AI-powered automation processes provide a major advantage for IT teams looking to cut SaaS sprawl, leading to a 75% increase in spending on AI-native SaaS apps between 2023-2024. 

AI automates security and data monitoring. It can effectively track app usage data and identify apps that are underutilized or unnecessary, which helps optimize SaaS spend. 

But AI poses risks in other areas. 

Security teams worry about the rise of easy-to-use AI platforms in shadow IT. Proactiv’s research shows that ChatGPT was the top shadow IT app in 2023. Some organizations waste time and resources on AI features that don’t fit their usual workflows. 

Many organizations have found that adding new AI features has increased the costs of their current SaaS applications.

Gartner’s Cloud Strategy Roadmap reports AI will be the most powerful driver of SaaS advancements as soon as 2026, citing:

• AI-driven cloud automation is a top priority for two-thirds of IT execs.
• Nearly 70% of IT teams use AI-powered analytics. They do this to cut software costs and forecast usage patterns. Some teams even report saving 20% on SaaS expenses.
• Security concerns about AI in SaaS environments have grown over 20% year-over-year.
• 44% of IT leaders list AI SaaS governance as one of their biggest concerns.
• 58% of organizations are deploying AI tools for identity and access management services to combat shadow IT.
• More than half of enterprises are using AI-powered tools like SMPs to monitor security, compliance, and usage.

JumpCloud is a SaaS management platform. It offers visibility, security, and optimization for all SaaS apps and users in your organization. 

Sign up for our SaaS Management guided simulation to see how JumpCloud’s centralized controls and detailed insights eliminate shadow IT, provide frictionless secure access, and optimize SaaS spending and reporting. 

Contact JumpCloud sales today. Learn how our platform meets the needs of SaaS stacks. It helps reduce sprawl and supports your IT team in finding creative solutions for 2025 and beyond.