Technical debt may not be the most talked-about issue in the boardroom, but it’s a significant problem for businesses, particularly those using SaaS apps. As companies race to innovate and scale, they often take shortcuts—implementing temporary fixes and leaving critical systems half-integrated. This short-term thinking eventually results in technical debt, which can cause security risks, inefficiencies, and operational headaches if ignored.
What exactly is technical debt? How does it impact your organization’s SaaS security? And, more importantly, how can you manage it before it gets out of control? Let’s explore the problem of technical debt and how Savvy’s automation, visibility, and integration solutions can help organizations overcome it.
What Is Technical Debt?
Technical debt occurs when development teams make compromises—often to meet deadlines or launch products faster—by choosing quicker, less sustainable solutions. These shortcuts might be necessary to meet immediate business goals, but they come at a cost. That cost is the technical debt that accumulates over time, often requiring significant rework, maintenance, or complete system overhauls in the future.
Imagine you’re building a bridge. To meet a tight deadline, you use lower-quality materials. The bridge functions, but it needs constant maintenance and repairs. In time, it may collapse. This is technical debt in a nutshell: an initially acceptable solution that eventually becomes a burden.
Technical Debt in SaaS Security
In SaaS security, technical debt manifests in many forms. It could be an identity and access management (IAM) system that hasn’t kept up with modern demands, leaving holes in your security framework. It could also be the proliferation of shadow IT, where employees use unapproved software or apps without IT oversight. Manual processes for onboarding and offboarding employees might save time in the short term but lead to errors that expose your systems to security risks.
This type of debt accumulates in systems as they grow more complex, particularly when security teams are overwhelmed by manually managing SaaS apps. Legacy identity systems, inconsistent security configurations, and improper user account management all add layers of complexity, eventually slowing down innovation and putting data at risk.
Without an effective strategy for tackling technical debt, these issues compound. Security teams find themselves constantly plugging holes rather than focusing on long-term solutions. Even worse, they become reactive—fixing problems as they arise rather than proactively preventing them.
Why Technical Debt Is a Growing Problem for SaaS Security
As businesses adopt more SaaS apps, they create shadow IT and SaaS sprawl opportunities. The ease of adopting new apps means that users can introduce new software into the environment without going through official channels. This can lead to security vulnerabilities as unapproved apps aren’t vetted or integrated into the company’s existing IAM infrastructure.
For example, a marketing team might start using a new analytics tool without notifying IT. This tool collects and stores sensitive data but doesn’t adhere to the organization’s security protocols. Over time, multiple teams could adopt their own set of unauthorized tools, creating a sprawling, unmonitored SaaS environment. Now, security teams are left trying to play catch-up, adding security measures to apps after they have been integrated into daily workflows.
SaaS sprawl also leads to an increase in the number of identities and accounts IT must manage. As more apps are added, more user accounts must be monitored, maintained, and offboarded. This complexity increases the chances of security lapses, such as former employees retaining access to critical systems. The combination of shadow IT and SaaS sprawl creates an environment ripe for technical debt, with security teams unable to maintain proper visibility and control.
The Long-Term Impact of Ignoring Technical Debt
If left unaddressed, technical debt will grow and become a costly problem. Organizations may find themselves dedicating more time and resources to maintenance rather than innovation. The longer technical debt persists, the more expensive and time-consuming it becomes to fix.
One common issue that arises from technical debt in SaaS environments is the inability to decommission old apps and user accounts. Former employees who still have access to corporate systems pose a serious risk. According to unit 42 of Palo Alto Networks, 75% of Insider Cyber Attacks are the work of disgruntled ex-employees retaining access to company systems. These breaches are a direct result of poorly managed offboarding processes and the technical debt they create.
Additionally, technical debt complicates compliance efforts. Companies struggling with outdated identity systems and manual processes often lack the audit trails and documentation for regulatory compliance. Without comprehensive visibility, ensuring all user access is properly revoked or monitored is hard, increasing the risk of non-compliance.
How Savvy Helps Address and Reduce Technical Debt
Savvy’s product directly addresses the accumulation of technical debt in SaaS environments by automating critical security and identity processes, providing full visibility, and simplifying SaaS integration.
Let’s look at how Savvy helps organizations reduce technical debt and secure their SaaS environments.
Full Visibility into SaaS App Usage
One key challenge of technical debt is the lack of visibility. You can’t fix what you can’t see. Savvy’s platform provides complete visibility into your SaaS environment, detecting all apps in use—even those that have been adopted without IT’s knowledge. Savvy helps businesses regain control over their digital ecosystem by identifying shadow IT and monitoring SaaS app usage.
With Savvy, organizations can track direct logins to SaaS apps, identify weak passwords, and enforce security protocols such as multi-factor authentication (MFA). This visibility allows IT teams to prevent security gaps and avoid accumulating technical debt by ensuring that all apps and user accounts are properly managed from the start.
Zero Touch Integrations for Seamless App Management
One major source of technical debt in SaaS environments is the complexity of integrating new apps. Each new app requires time and effort to onboard, configure, and secure. Savvy’s Zero Touch Integrations (ZTI) eliminate this burden by automating the onboarding process. With ZTI, new apps are seamlessly integrated into the existing security framework without manual configuration.
This eliminates a key source of technical debt: the time and resources spent maintaining poorly integrated apps. Savvy automates these processes to help organizations scale their SaaS environments securely and efficiently.
Automated Offboarding to Prevent Security Gaps
Offboarding is often where technical debt becomes most apparent. When employees leave, their access to SaaS apps must be revoked promptly. However, many companies struggle with this process due to the sheer number of apps in use. Manual offboarding processes are error-prone and time-consuming, leading to security gaps.
Savvy automates offboarding, ensuring all user accounts are deactivated and access is revoked when an employee leaves. This prevents former employees from retaining access to sensitive systems and significantly reduces the risk of data breaches. By automating offboarding, Savvy helps organizations eliminate a major source of technical debt and improve their overall security posture.
The Long-Term Benefits of Tackling Technical Debt with Savvy
By addressing technical debt head-on, Savvy provides organizations with lasting benefits. Automating identity lifecycle management, gaining complete visibility into SaaS usage, and streamlining integrations reduce the time and effort spent on maintenance. These steps free up IT and security teams to focus on more strategic initiatives rather than constantly managing legacy issues.
Improved Security
Reducing technical debt leads to better security outcomes. Automated processes consistently apply security protocols across all apps and user accounts, reducing the risk of data breaches, unauthorized access, and compliance failures.
Operational Efficiency
Savvy’s automated solutions help businesses operate more efficiently. IT teams spend less time manually configuring systems or chasing down security vulnerabilities caused by shadow IT. Full visibility into their SaaS environments allows them to identify and address any risks quickly.
Cost Savings
Addressing technical debt ultimately results in cost savings. Maintenance costs decrease, compliance becomes easier to manage, and organizations can avoid costly data breaches and downtime. The less time and resources spent on patching up issues caused by technical debt, the more an organization can invest in innovation and growth.
Technical debt is inevitable in business growth, but it doesn’t have to become an overwhelming burden. With Savvy, organizations can tackle their technical debt head-on, reduce security risks, and operate more efficiently. By automating critical processes, providing complete visibility, and simplifying SaaS integrations, Savvy helps businesses stay ahead of the curve and focus on what really matters: driving innovation and securing their future.
