Almost all organizations live in SaaS and thrive on AI. From project management tools to customer support platforms, AI-driven SaaS apps are accelerating how businesses operate, collaborate, and innovate. But as usage surges, so does complexity: employees increasingly deploy powerful AI tools and third-party integrations without security review, creating a sprawling and often invisible ecosystem of SaaS apps.

This widespread, unmanaged usage creates serious security gaps:

• 80% of workers admit to using SaaS applications not approved by IT (Gartner), contributing to a fragmented and unmanaged application landscape.
• More than 70% of SaaS apps used in enterprises are unsanctioned, meaning they aren’t monitored or secured by central IT or security teams (IBM).
• Over 90% of SaaS security incidents stem from misconfigurations and unmanaged third-party access, often tied to shadow IT (Cloud Security Alliance).
• AI adoption is exacerbating the issue, with more than 55% of employees now integrating generative AI tools into workflows without security review, introducing unknown data exposure risks (Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index, 2024).

The longer this goes unmanaged, the more risk stacks up. Security teams are left chasing issues reactively, performing manual audits, and operating in constant triage mode.

What Is SaaS Discovery, and Why Does It Matter?

SaaS discovery is the process of identifying every application in use across your organization—including unsanctioned, unmanaged, and AI-enabled tools.

Customers confirmed what we’ve always believed: That employees use significantly more SaaS apps than they had visibility into. With AppOmni Discovery, customers can see and manage the full scope of their SaaS environment. 

But visibility alone isn’t enough. Real SaaS discovery gives you answers:

• Who’s using which apps—and how often?
• Are third-party integrations introducing risk?
• Are any apps duplicative, unapproved, or non-compliant?

Without this level of insight, you can’t accurately assess SaaS risk or reduce it. You’re left with a fragmented security picture.

The Solution: AppOmni Discovery

AppOmni SaaS Discovery delivers comprehensive, near real-time visibility into your entire SaaS ecosystem—without invasive permissions, or inbox access. And unlike other tools, it’s included as part of the AppOmni platform. AppOmni enables end-to-end SaaS security when Discovery is combined with our existing capabilities in posture, threat detection, identity, and compliance.

It uses a lightweight browser extension to capture SaaS usage, then maps activity back to real users and integrates that insight into your broader security workflows.

Key Benefits of AppOmni SaaS Discovery

Benefit #1: Identify Sanctioned and Unsanctioned Apps

Proactively monitor for shadow IT, browser-based tools, AI apps, and unauthorized third-party integrations—get alerts when something risky or unknown appears. Instead of just surfacing data, we shine the flashlight for you, pointing out critical gaps so you can act immediately.

Benefit #2: Reduce Risk from Unmanaged Tools

Identify applications that operate outside of IT’s governance. AppOmni Discovery flags unsanctioned tools, AI-powered apps, and browser-based platforms that may not meet your security standards. Quickly determine which apps align with your organization’s policies, which hold excessive permissions, and which may be duplicative or non-compliant.

Benefit #3: Strengthen SaaS Governance

Assign ownership, tag business use, and build an approved application catalog to go from reactive discovery to proactive control.

Benefit #4: Empower Collaboration Across Teams

Discovery supports more than just security teams. IT, risk, and compliance teams can access the same insights to manage third-party risks, streamline audits, and optimize tool rationalization together.

Benefit #5: Visibility Is the First Step Toward SaaS Security

You can’t protect what you can’t see. Whether you’re just starting your SaaS security program or scaling across dozens of business units, AppOmni Discovery lays the foundation for secure, compliant SaaS operations.

Don’t wait for a data breach, an audit failure, or a misconfigured AI app to show you where the gaps are. Find them first with AppOmni SaaS Discovery.