When asked what application types are concerning from a security perspective, 23% of IT leaders said that generative AI applications were the most concerning SaaS security issue, followed by open-source applications (19%) and file sharing applications (17%). Fifty-seven percent of respondents indicated that they would be alarmed if a SaaS vendor was using generative AI without their knowledge, with 36% expressing no concern and 7% indicated that they would terminate services.

Forty percent of respondents expressed concern over data protection or privacy, even though 61% indicated that they have extensive data governance and security tools to manage data shared with SaaS applications. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said IT asset management (ITAM)/software asset management (SAM) teams were primarily responsible for purchasing and managing SaaS applications, followed by CIO or IT leaders (58%), security (28%) and procurement or vendor management (20%).

U.S. respondents are more likely to say ITAM/SAM professionals are also responsible for mitigating issues related to SaaS (43%) vs U.K. respondents (34%). However, in the U.K., they are more likely to consider the CIO or senior IT leader as responsible (40%).