Running privilege management infrastructure in-house means servers to maintain, databases to back up, and capacity to plan for. SaaS-based Privileged Access Management (PAM) takes a different approach: everything runs in the cloud, and you manage it through a web portal.
The operational overhead disappears, deployment speeds up dramatically, and you get enterprise-grade privilege management without the infrastructure complexity.
1. Zero On-Premises Infrastructure
SaaS PAM eliminates the need for local servers, virtual machines, or databases. The platform runs entirely in a cloud environment managed by the vendor, and you access it through a secure web portal.
Lightweight agents on your endpoints handle privilege elevation locally and sync data to the cloud portal when connected. If an endpoint goes offline, the agent continues working independently, syncing logs and settings once connectivity returns.
Admin By Request’s EPM solution requires nothing beyond the endpoint agent itself:
- No server appliances or virtual machines to provision
- No additional software on your Active Directory infrastructure
- No capacity planning or storage management
- Silent deployment through standard tools like SCCM or Intune (under 2MB)
For organizations with limited IT staff or distributed environments, this removes a substantial maintenance burden. You’re not managing infrastructure or worrying about uptime for PAM servers, just managing privilege policies through a browser.
2. Rapid Deployment and Effortless Scaling
Getting a PAM solution running through standard deployment tools means you can go from signup to operational in a matter of hours. You deploy the agent across your endpoints using Intune, SCCM, or whatever management platform you already have in place. Policy configuration happens through the web portal, and endpoints start enforcing privilege controls as soon as the agent is installed.
Scaling happens just as smoothly. Adding 500 new endpoints doesn’t trigger infrastructure assessments or capacity planning sessions. You deploy more agents, and the cloud platform handles the rest automatically. Whether you’re managing 50 endpoints or 5,000, the backend infrastructure scales without any input from your team.
Organizations going through rapid growth or managing seasonal workforce changes can adjust their PAM deployment without the lead time that on-premises solutions require.
3. Predictable Costs Without Hidden Expenses
SaaS PAM operates on a subscription model with per-endpoint pricing, so you know exactly what you’re paying each year. There are no surprise hardware refresh cycles, no emergency infrastructure upgrades when you hit capacity limits, and no professional services fees for major version updates. Budget planning becomes straightforward because the costs don’t fluctuate based on infrastructure needs.
For smaller organizations, this pricing structure makes enterprise-grade privilege management accessible without significant capital expenditure. Larger organizations benefit from predictable operating expenses and the ability to redeploy IT staff who would otherwise be managing PAM infrastructure.
4. Automatic Updates and Continuous Improvement
Security threats evolve constantly, and your PAM solution needs to keep pace. SaaS platforms update automatically, rolling out new features, security patches, and improvements without requiring downtime or coordination from your IT team.
You’re always running the current version of the software. There’s no need to schedule maintenance windows, test updates in staging environments, or coordinate with other teams about potential conflicts. The vendor handles all of that, and updates deploy transparently.
This means you get new capabilities as they’re released. If the vendor adds a new approval workflow feature or improves session recording functionality, it shows up in your portal without any action required from your team.
5. Built-In High Availability and Disaster Recovery
On-premises PAM solutions require careful planning for high availability. You need redundant servers, load balancing, and disaster recovery procedures. If your PAM infrastructure goes down, privilege management stops working until you restore it.
SaaS platforms build high availability into the service. The vendor manages redundancy, failover, and disaster recovery across multiple data centers. Your privilege management stays operational even if an entire data center experiences an outage.
Admin By Request works both online and offline, which adds another layer of resilience:
- Endpoints continue enforcing privilege policies using locally cached configuration if connectivity drops
- Users can still request privilege elevation through offline PIN codes issued by administrators
- All activity logs sync back to the portal automatically once connectivity returns
- No single point of failure for endpoint operations
This design means your privilege management continues functioning regardless of network conditions.
6. Simplified Compliance and Auditing
Compliance requirements often mandate detailed logging of privileged access: who elevated their privileges, when, why, and what they did with those elevated rights. SaaS PAM platforms centralize all of this data automatically.
Every privilege elevation request, approval decision, and elevated session gets logged to the cloud portal in real time. You can generate compliance reports, search audit logs, and track privileged activity across your entire environment from one interface.
Admin By Request maintains a complete audit trail of elevation activity, admin logons, and software installations. The inventory system tracks all installed software, hardware details, and group memberships. When auditors ask for privileged access reports, you can export the data directly from the portal without writing custom queries against local databases.
Regional data residency options help organizations meet geographic data storage requirements without building separate infrastructure in different regions.
7. Faster Access to Support and Expertise
When you run PAM infrastructure yourself, troubleshooting falls entirely on your team. If something breaks at 2 AM, your on-call staff needs to diagnose and fix it.
SaaS vendors handle platform issues for you. If there’s a problem with the backend infrastructure, authentication services, or data processing, the vendor’s team responds and resolves it. Your IT staff focuses on policy configuration and user support rather than platform maintenance.
Admin By Request includes support with paid plans, giving you direct access to the team that builds and maintains the platform. Questions about policy configuration, integration with other tools, or deployment best practices get answered by people who know the product inside and out.
8. Works Anywhere Your Workforce Is
Remote work and distributed teams create challenges for on-premises PAM solutions. VPN connections can be unreliable, and endpoints that rarely connect to the corporate network may not sync properly with local PAM servers.
SaaS PAM works anywhere there’s an internet connection. Remote workers, branch offices, and traveling staff all connect to the same cloud platform. There’s no dependency on VPN connectivity or line-of-sight to on-premises infrastructure.
Offline functionality makes this even more flexible. Users can work completely disconnected from the network while still maintaining privilege management controls. Configuration changes made in the cloud portal sync to endpoints the next time they connect, regardless of where they’re located.
Making the Switch
SaaS-based PAM solutions remove infrastructure complexity while maintaining the security controls organizations need. You get faster deployment, predictable costs, automatic updates, and built-in high availability without managing servers or databases.
For organizations evaluating privilege management options, the choice often comes down to where you want your IT team spending their time: maintaining infrastructure or managing security policies. SaaS lets you focus on the latter.
Admin By Request’s Free Plan supports up to 25 endpoints with full product functionality, giving you a straightforward way to test the platform in your environment. Alternatively, you can book a live demo with our team to see our solutions in action.
