The vocabulary behind SaaS waste, shadow IT, and license reclamation — defined in plain English, with real examples.
Any software, SaaS account, or cloud service an employee uses for work without IT approval or visibility.
Generative-AI tools employees use for work without IT or security approval — often pasting sensitive data into the prompt.
The process of identifying SaaS seats that aren't being used and recovering them, either by deprovisioning the user or downgrading the tier.
Software a company has paid for but isn't using — licenses that sit on the metaphorical shelf, billed monthly, generating zero value.
The uncontrolled growth of SaaS apps inside a company — the gap between the tools IT knows about and the tools employees actually use.
An active SaaS license tied to a real user that hasn't logged any meaningful activity in 30+ days.
A SaaS account that belonged to a former employee and was never deprovisioned during offboarding.