As we know, the workforce has become increasingly distributed over the past few years. During that time, to make up for teams being in different places, enterprises often relied on SaaS applications to spark collaboration and productivity.

Now, the shift we see happening is the adoption of hybrid work models where employees are remote some days and in the office other days, balancing in-office collaboration with work-from-home flexibility.

Corporate leaders entrusted to oversee this shift are tasked with keeping associated costs in check to maximize enterprise budgets—both SaaS app spend and the considerable financial resources devoted to an organization's real estate footprint. This makes plain the need for visibility into cost drivers like office space usage and SaaS adoption and spend.

However, the current status quo of gaining insights to make informed business decisions is challenging. Companies frequently rely on inaccurate, manual processes like best-guess efforts to track SaaS applications in spreadsheets. Many real estate and facilities teams use the same process to analyze badge reader data to understand when employees come into the office to help with return-to-work strategies. In an effort to move away from manual SaaS tracking, some companies ironically deploy expensive SaaS management apps to track SaaS usage, that frequently fail to deliver a truly accurate picture of a company's SaaS estate.

To address these challenges, Zscaler is launching Business Insights, the newest addition to the Zscaler Business Analytics portfolio. This powerful product empowers organizations to right-size their SaaS application usage and spend while optimizing office utilization. With Business Insights, organizations will make data-driven decisions for more efficient and cost-effective hybrid work models.

Optimizing SaaS usage and Spend

One of the key features of Zscaler Business Insights is its ability to provide organizations with comprehensive visibility into their SaaS usage and spend. Many businesses struggle with SaaS sprawl, where redundant applications and unused licenses lead to unnecessary costs and operational overhead. With Business Insights, IT leaders can:

• Gain full visibility into SaaS applications to address SaaS sprawl

• Track employee engagement and usage of SaaS apps

• Rationalize SaaS app use, identifying redundant apps

• Visualize the SaaS cost savings from eliminating unused apps and licenses

Optimizing Return-to-Office Journeys

As organizations navigate the transition back to the office, it is crucial to have insights into employee office usage to optimize workplace utilization. Business Insights provides key data to support the return-to-office strategy, helping organizations make the best use of office space and identify areas where office capacity can be reduced.

With Business Insights, IT, procurement, and real estate team leaders can:

See which days employees come into the office vs. working hybrid or remote
Know which departments come into the office most and least
View hour-by-hour office footfall visualizations to optimize offices for conference rooms, meals, and other workplace amenities
Track weekly, monthly, and quarterly office usage trends
Shift to closed-loop location management with data integrations to show how offices are being utilized versus capacity (coming soon)

Zscaler Business Insights offers organizations the power to use their existing Zscaler architecture, with nothing new to deploy, to optimize their SaaS usage and office utilization, enabling a more efficient and cost-effective digital transformation.

Learn more and request a demo here.