Glossary

Single-Tenancy Environment

What is a single-tenancy environment in cloud computing?


A single-tenancy environment, also known as dedicated hosting or a dedicated instance, refers to a situation where each user or tenant has their own dedicated infrastructure and resources, including servers, storage and network components. These resources aren’t shared with any other users, maximizing performance and control.

What is a single-tenancy environment in cloud computing?


A single-tenancy environment, also known as dedicated hosting or a dedicated instance, refers to a situation where each user or tenant has their own dedicated infrastructure and resources, including servers, storage and network components. These resources aren’t shared with any other users, maximizing performance and control.

Related Definitions

Break Clause

What is a break clause?


A break clause refers to a provision within a SaaS agreement that allows either the customer or the SaaS provider to terminate the contract before the end of the initial term. A break clause will typically set out the conditions or requirements that must be met for either party to exercise their right to terminate an agreement early. For example, a break clause can enable users to cancel their subscription if they are dissatisfied with the service.

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Auto-Renewal

What is an auto-renewal clause?

Auto-renewal is a term often used in SaaS agreements referring to the automatic renewal of a user’s subscription plan at the end of their contract term. These auto-renewal clauses will automatically extend the user’s subscription for another period, typically the same duration as the initial term, unless the customer explicitly cancels or modifies their subscription by a specified date. This is often referred to as a termination window and is typically either 30, 60 or 90 days prior to the renewal date.

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Decentralized Procurement

What is decentralized procurement?


Decentralized purchasing in SaaS refers to the process of allowing individual departments or teams within an organization to make their own purchasing decisions for software applications. This is in contrast to a centralized purchasing model, where all purchasing decisions are approved by a single procurement team or a department such as finance.
While a decentralized purchasing model can provide teams with the flexibility to select and purchase the tools that best meet their needs, without having to wait for approvals or navigate bureaucratic purchasing processes, it can create challenges for the company. This can include reduced buying power, higher costs, lack of control over vendor relationships, and increased compliance and legal risks.

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Auto-Scaling

What is auto-scaling?


Auto-scaling refers to the automatic adjustment of cloud computing resources based on an organization’s current demand and workload. It dynamically adjusts the allocation of resources to match the evolving requirements of an application or system without the need for manual intervention.


There are a number of benefits to using auto-scaling, the first being cost efficiency. By ensuring that resources are scaled up or down as and when needed, organizations can avoid over-provisioning and subsequently reduce unnecessary expenses. It also helps maintain consistent performance levels by automatically adding resources during peak demand periods.

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SaaS Sprawl

What is SaaS sprawl?


SaaS sprawl, also known as software sprawl, occurs when an organization’s SaaS stack consists of a large — and often unmanageable — number of applications.


Ultimately, as business needs grow, the number of digital tools required increases, which leads to new applications being subscribed to, be this through a centralized process or at the will of individual employees.

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Cloud Instances

What is an instance in the context of cloud computing?


In cloud computing, an instance refers to a virtual server provided by a third-party cloud service, for example AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. These instances ultimately enable companies to deploy and run their applications or services in the cloud, in a scalable and flexible manner. This is because instances are on-demand and can be adjusted based on your workload requirements.

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