Ravi Malick on SaaS sprawl
From Box’s Global CIO on Tackling Saas Sprawl & Empowering IT Leaders | The New Automation Mindset Ep. 37 · · Workato
“SaaS provided velocity and time to value was short, but because it was so easy and proliferated so much, you have an application to solve every niche problem. This leads to application sprawl, which creates inefficiency and additional costs in licensing, administration, and labor.”
On , Ravi Malick, Global Chief Information Officer at BOX INC, spoke about SaaS sprawl during Box’s Global CIO on Tackling Saas Sprawl & Empowering IT Leaders | The New Automation Mindset Ep. 37 on Workato.
About Ravi Malick
Ravi Malick, Global Chief Information Officer at Box, has discussed the evolving role of CIOs and the impact of AI on enterprise technology in recent podcast appearances. In a December 2024 episode of "The New Automation Mindset," Malick stated that "CIOs have evolved to being business leaders that have a technology focus" and that the role requires understanding all aspects of a business, including marketing, finance, operations, and customer service. He described SaaS sprawl as a challenge where applications are bought by business owners in silos without centralized governance, leading to inefficiency and additional costs. Malick also said that generative AI has "immense potential to change how work gets done and scale productivity," and that unstructured data and content are "the fuel for Generative AI." In a September 2024 appearance on "Technovation," Malick noted that "north of 70% of Fortune 500 companies use Box to manage their content or unstructured data" and that 58% of companies lack a well-baked strategy for their unstructured data. He described scalability as a key focus when he joined Box, stating that "the enemy of scalability can be complexity, but complexity can also be a competitive advantage." Malick also said that the top two focus areas among CIOs are AI and cybersecurity, and that managing technology involves maximizing value, minimizing risk, and managing cost. He advised aspiring CIOs to "know the numbers—financials, metrics, and how technology ties to the balance sheet."