SaaS discovery is the process of identifying, cataloging and monitoring all software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, identities, accounts, integrations and usage within an organization—including those adopted outside of IT’s oversight (so-called “shadow SaaS”). Effective discovery provides a foundational layer of visibility: what applications exist, who is using them, how access is granted (SSO, OAuth, direct login), whether they are managed or unmanaged. Without discovery, security, spend and governance teams are flying blind.

Modern enterprises adopt hundreds or thousands of SaaS applications, many outside of formal procurement channels. This creates blind spots: unused licenses, unmanaged accounts, risky integrations, unknown identities and uncontrolled vendor access. Discovery helps surface these risks, provides a single source of truth for the SaaS estate, supports spend optimization, strengthens security posture and enables governance across distributed, hybrid, remote workforces.

Nudge Security leverages a patented, lightweight method that begins with a read-only connection to your email system (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365), then uses machine-learning and email-pattern recognition to detect SaaS account creation, usage, OAuth grants, identities and integrations—without requiring endpoint agents, network proxies, or complicated deployment. From Day One you gain a complete, continuous inventory of SaaS applications, users, permissions, and legacy activity, all updated automatically.

With Nudge’s SaaS discovery you’ll find: a full inventory of SaaS applications (free & paid tiers), user identities and groups, login/authentication methods (SSO, OAuth, direct credentials), unmanaged accounts, OAuth/grant scopes, business ownership metadata, historical usage (even apps created years ago), and integrations between apps. This rich context supports SaaS security, spend, and governance priorities.

Because Nudge’s method is agentless and lightweight, setup is fast—all we require is a single integration to your email system. From there, you begin to populate your SaaS asset inventory within minutes, discover historical apps and accounts, and receive alerts for new app creation and risky permissions almost immediately. This rapid time-to-visibility is critical for organizations seeking quick wins.

While Nudge’s approach is highly capable, no tool can guarantee 100% visibility. For example: accounts created using personal email addresses (not corporate email) may not be discovered; some SaaS vendor dependencies may not produce detectable email patterns; and some integrations may be hidden or custom. Nudge surfaces confidence levels and gaps so teams can prioritize remediation and reduce risk where visibility is lower.

Beyond security, SaaS discovery enables cost control: by uncovering all SaaS apps (including unmanaged or forgotten ones), linking them to users, usage patterns, and billing data (invoices, spend history), organizations can reclaim unused licenses, eliminate redundant tools, forecast spend and align SaaS investments to business value. Nudge extends discovery to include up to two years of historical spend extracted from mailboxes.

By giving full visibility over your SaaS estate—including unmanaged apps, unknown identities, risky OAuth grants and historical accounts—discovery empowers security and governance teams to identify high-risk assets, enforce access policies, audit app usage, automate remediation playbooks (e.g., orphan account cleanup, OAuth revocation), and create a continuous system of record. This foundational inventory supports larger SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) efforts.

In today’s common remote/hybrid work model, many employees adopt SaaS on personal devices, outside VPNs, or via free trials—making traditional network-based discovery (traffic logs, proxies) unreliable. Nudge’s email-based discovery approach works irrespective of network location or device, enabling “last-mile” visibility across distributed teams and remote workers.

To maximize impact: deploy discovery early and broadly; treat the resulting inventory as the source of truth; integrate it into workflows for procurement, security, identity, and finance; automate key remediation playbooks (e.g., orphan account cleanup, OAuth revocation, license rationalization); periodically review and update your SaaS catalog; and align discoveries with business-context (who owns the app, what data it accesses, what usage value it delivers). Nudge’s solution provides both the data and the playbook frameworks to operationalize these best practices