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Managing the explosive growth in SaaS and Cloud applications is largely uncharted territory. While some principles of traditional software asset management can be applied to managing cloud and SaaS applications, the way software is purchased has fundamentally changed and the management and governance of software is evolving.
Some SaaS applications are purchased and implemented as strategic, and often expensive, systems across the enterprise and involve IT and Finance in the process. Other SaaS applications are purchased as a niche solution or for a specific tactical use and the line of businesses run the evaluation and purchasing process, implement it in their area and ensure their team is using it without involvement from IT and Finance. The strategic impact of an application, how many employees use it and how much it costs validate that all SaaS applications are not created equal in the enterprise and they should not be governed the same way, either.