Supporting Sambla to Tackle Compliance and Shadow IT in a Rapidly Expanding SaaS Environment
Company
Sambla is a Nordic comparison service that helps consumers find the cheapest loans. Founded in 2014, Sambla has supported over 390,000 satisfied customers in securing low-interest rates. The platform makes borrowing simple, helping users get the best interest rates and loan conditions quickly and easily.
Industry
Financial Services
As Sambla’s SaaS ecosystem expands, so do the risks associated with unmanaged tools, non-compliant software usage, and opaque license distribution. Without centralised visibility, clarity around shadow IT, regulatory exposure, and overspending was becoming harder to manage.
By partnering with Viio, Sambla gained the visibility and governance controls needed to uncover hidden tools, de-risk their stack, and lay the groundwork for regulatory alignment with standards like DORA. The Viio platform provided real-time insights into application usage, compliance gaps, and redundant licensing, helping Sambla in their ongoing strategy of proactive software management.
The Challenge:
Lack of Transparency Fueled Overspend and Compliance Risk
As Sambla’s software stack grew, so did the complexity of managing usage, renewals, and internal governance. Without a centralized view of applications and license activity, critical inefficiencies and risks would often remain hidden, surfacing during a vendor renewal. Key challenges included:
- Shadow IT exposure: With new tools being adopted outside of IT’s purview, Sambla faced escalating risk of data fragmentation and non-compliance.
- Compliance blind spots: Limited usage visibility made it difficult to assess software alignment with emerging regulatory standards, where control and reporting over digital infrastructure is required.
- License mismanagement: Inactive and misallocated licenses led to overspending, with no streamlined way to deprovision or right-size.
- Inefficient procurement workflows: Some siloes around vendor information slowed down decision-making and obscured opportunities for renegotiation.
The Solution:
Real-Time Control, Compliance-Driven Visibility, and Centralised SaaS Governance
By implementing Viio’s SaaS Management Platform, Sambla was able to connect key applications and centralized contract and usage data. This provided the foundation for full-spectrum compliance tracking, shadow IT mitigation, and smarter software planning.
- Discovery of unsanctioned tools: Viio’s automated discovery capabilities revealed previously unknown applications and unmonitored usage, shedding light on shadow IT.
- Compliance reporting aligned with DORA: With granular user and app-level data, Sambla gained the transparency needed to begin aligning software usage with DORA requirements, including traceability and vendor accountability.
- “Suspended Users” detection: Enabled the team to easily identify and deallocate licenses tied to inactive or offboarded employees.
- Centralized contract visibility: Uploading contracts and integrating with Microsoft and Google enabled structured governance, even as technical onboarding hurdles were addressed.
- Usage-based optimisation: Live dashboards allowed teams to evaluate actual tool usage, reducing waste and informing smarter renewal and procurement strategies.
The Result:
Proactive Governance, Cost Efficiency, and Regulatory Alignment
Viio’s impact was immediate and measurable. Sambla moved to more data-informed license renewals, from fragmented vendor data to centralized governance, and from some level of compliance uncertainty to transparency.
- Reduced compliance risk: Centralized visibility helped Sambla understand and document software usage in line with DORA’s demands for operational resilience and ICT third-party risk management.
- Smarter renewals: With accurate usage data, Sambla avoided license overspend and negotiated renewals more effectively.
- Shadow IT mitigation: Previously unmonitored applications were identified and either onboarded through formal processes or decommissioned.
- Enhanced collaboration: Procurement and IT teams began operating from a single source of truth, enabling cohesive software lifecycle management.
- Greater organizational confidence: With Viio’s platform, Sambla now manages its SaaS landscape with control, transparency, and a clear path to regulatory compliance
The Future:
Scaling SaaS Governance and Deepening Regulatory Readiness
As Sambla continues to scale up their operations, the Viio platform is positioned to play a role. With applications mapped and governance processes maturing, Sambla is building a foundation for long-term optimisation and efficiency while keeping compliance as a guiding light.
What’s Next:
- Full-spectrum vendor mapping: Sambla aims to complete its contract and app inventory, enabling further compliance automation.
- AI-driven optimisation: Viio’s machine learning capabilities will help Sambla surface new opportunities to reduce spend and improve accountability.
- DORA-readiness at scale: As regulatory frameworks evolve, Viio’s reporting capabilities will ensure Sambla remains ahead of requirements.
- Strategic IT partnership: With ongoing support from the Viio team, Sambla is equipped not just for software management, but for sustainable digital operations.
