Zscaler launches Business Insights for improved SaaS optimisation

Zscaler, a leader in cloud security, has announced the release of Business Insights, bolstering its Business Analytics portfolio. The new addition aims to enhance the ability of companies to optimise software-as-service (SaaS) use and improve office utilisation. This move is geared towards minimising costs whilst bolstering productivity and security within the organisation.

Business Insights empowers firms to assess and govern SaaS utilisation, including shadow IT, identifying any redundant or unused applications, thus enabling reduction in license costs. In addition, the new tool allows for the visualisation of office use across global locations, offering insights into workplace trends. These include patterns in the days and times offices are mostly utilised, departmental usage, over or under capacity issues, and potential consolidation and cost-saving opportunities.

Zscaler's announcement comes with significant enhancements to its broader Business Analytics portfolio, which encompasses AI-powered innovations within Zscaler Risk360 and Zscaler Digital Experience Monitoring (ZDX) product offerings. The firm's Zero Trust Exchange platform, the world's largest security cloud, is utilised in these solutions. The platform registers more than 370 billion transactions and 500 trillion signals daily, which are used to power what are arguably the world's most formidable AI/ML security engines.

"IT leaders overseeing distributed organisations are constantly challenged to control costs while at the same time improving productivity and reducing risk exposure," stated Patrick Foxhoven, CIO and EVP at Zscaler. "Point products are unable to provide sufficient insights to support distributed workplaces with proliferating applications and employees working from anywhere. Siloed data from disparate systems create blind spots in areas like cyber risk, digital experience, application usage and workplace trends."

The new Zscaler Business Insights appear to have been well-received by its users. Darin Hurd, CISO at Guaranteed Rate, stated, "With Risk360, we are able to gain visibility into cyber risk blind spots. This visibility lets us be more focused on where we spend our time to address and reduce the most pressing cyber risks."

Advancements to the Zscaler Risk360 facilitate quarter-backed cybersecurity maturity assessments, powered by Zscaler's generative AI. The advancements also enable IT teams to leverage third-party data to identify additional risk signals and lower the potential for compromise on user devices. Additionally, the advancements include improved financial risk models with Monte Carlo simulation outcomes and help with and aiding compliance with the latest SEC disclosure requirements.

Simmilarly, Sanmina Corporation's CIO, Manesh Patel, expressed his enthusiasm about Zscaler's developments, stating, "We're excited about how rapidly Zscaler is developing Risk360, including adding features like generative AI reporting. It's great to see Zscaler leaning into its unique architectural advantage - the data - to help solve business challenges for organisations like ours."