Unmanaged SaaS Apps: Why Nearly Half Your Applications Are Invisible To IT

Your organization likely spends 7 figures annually on security infrastructure: Okta for identity. CrowdStrike for endpoints. SIEM and vulnerability management. 

You've staffed a SOC, prepared for SOC2 audits, and embraced Zero Trust.

But all of it can quietly be undone by a single CSV export.

Because the truth is, security budgets often ignore the weakest link: unmanaged SaaS apps. These are the tools that don't support SAML, SCIM, or APIs. 

They sit outside your IdP. They can't be automatically provisioned, audited, or deprovisioned. They're everywhere. And they're dangerous.

Unmanaged SaaS applications create dangerous blind spots

Unmanaged SaaS apps are systems that operate outside your centralized identity and security infrastructure. They include:

• SaaS tools without SSO or SCIM support
• Applications provisioned by departments without IT oversight
• Niche platforms that rely on manual CSV-based provisioning
• Legacy SaaS apps with no API integrations

These unmanaged SaaS apps create blind spots because they don't plug into tools like Okta. And that means you can't manage them with policy, visibility, or automation.

Every unmanaged SaaS app creates multiple risks

Here's what unmanaged SaaS apps actually mean for your security posture:

• Orphaned accounts: Ex-employees or contractors still have access
• Unused licenses: Wasted spend that hides in plain sight
• Audit gaps: No clean records for SOC2, HIPAA, or ISO 27001
• Breach risk: Credentials get reused, shared, or exposed without monitoring

You know these risks are real. But they often get ignored because unmanaged SaaS apps are "someone else's problem." The reality is that fragmented identity data across systems makes it nearly impossible to track who has access to what.

The identity blind spot no one budgeted for

Your security budget covers best-in-class identity tools. But those tools typically only cover federated SaaS applications: apps connected via SAML or OIDC.

According to recent analysis from Stitchflow across enterprise customers:

Up to 40% of business-critical SaaS apps are not connected to Okta or any IdP.

That means nearly half your SaaS stack consists of unmanaged applications outside your governance controls. And yet, you're spending millions assuming full coverage.

This is the identity blind spot no one wants to admit exists.

How unmanaged SaaS apps create systemic risk

In unmanaged SaaS apps, user access is handled manually. A CSV file is uploaded. An invite is sent. Credentials are emailed or shared in Slack.

That's fine for 1 app and 1 user.

But when you're managing:

• 100+ apps across your organization
• Across 12 departments
• Supporting full-time employees, contractors, interns, and vendors

Manual CSV-based provisioning becomes a breach vector, not just a bottleneck.

The complexity multiplies when you factor in multiple domains and contractor management, where traditional identity systems fall short.

A budget mismatch that's costing you

Most security leaders agree their spend doesn't reflect the true attack surface:

• Your Okta license may cost $100k+
• Your CrowdStrike deployment is robust
• You've invested in DLP, EDR, SIEM, and more

But the SaaS tools that lack identity controls (the ones provisioned without oversight) are ignored.

Unmanaged SaaS apps are often unbudgeted, unmanaged, and unmonitored. This creates a dangerous blind spot where traditional software asset management fails to provide the visibility modern businesses need.

And that's exactly where the breach happens.

Just ask MGM. A social engineering breach, exploiting weak identity controls on a backend system, brought down the casino giant for 10 days and cost $100 million.

Security is only as strong as your SaaS app surface

Here's the Stitchflow perspective:

If you're securing 60% of your SaaS apps, you're only 60% secure.

And if your team is wasting FTE cycles on provisioning, deprovisioning, license audits, and security reviews for unmanaged SaaS apps, it's time to modernize.

The challenge isn't just visibility; it's making sense of fragmented license data across multiple systems in real-time.

Stitchflow's view: bring unmanaged SaaS apps into the fold

Stitchflow is purpose-built to solve this exact blind spot. We help IT and security teams manage unmanaged SaaS apps by:

• Discover unmanaged SaaS apps across your org
• Detect orphaned and unmanaged identities
• Deprovision stale accounts across SaaS apps without APIs or SCIM
• Automate provisioning even in SaaS tools that don't support federation
• Align SaaS app governance with your identity strategy and security budget
   

We do this without replacing your IdP. We extend it. Unlike traditional platforms that only work with connected apps, Stitchflow handles the messy reality of complex IT environments where 40% of your stack operates outside standard integrations.

Real outcomes for IT and security teams

With Stitchflow, our customers have:

• Cut audit prep time by 60% by eliminating audit gaps
• Removed 2,000+ orphaned accounts across finance, sales, and engineering tools
• Reclaimed hundreds of unused licenses worth thousands per month
• Reduced risk in shadow IT by 40% in the first 90 days

And we do it with no change to your employee onboarding process.

What should you do next?

✅ Start by identifying your unmanaged SaaS apps.

✅ Audit for orphaned identities and stale accounts.

✅ Map where CSV provisioning still happens in your SaaS stack.

✅ Compare your security budget to your actual SaaS app attack surface.

✅ Let Stitchflow help you close the gap.

Because in 2025, you shouldn't be securing just the SaaS apps with APIs. You should be securing all of them.

Want to see how much of your SaaS stack is unmanaged?

Book a free identity blind spot audit with Stitchflow →