Axela Biosciences Uses Reco to Gain SaaS and AI Visibility Across a Regulated Environment

Before Reco

As Axela Biosciences expanded, their SaaS footprint grew faster than their visibility into it. The security team knew something needed to change — but the full scope of the problem didn't surface until they started asking the right questions.

"We Don't Have SaaS"

When Aaron Ansari, Axela's CISO, asked technology leadership about their SaaS coverage, the first response was a confident "we don't have SaaS applications." He pointed to Microsoft 365 and said: that's SaaS. Once the team began manually inventorying what was actually running, it became clear the footprint was growing well beyond what anyone had tracked — and that a manual approach wasn't going to cut it.

Shadow AI Flying Under the Radar

The same blind spot applied to artificial intelligence. Leadership's position on AI was equally confident: it was blocked, not enabled. Reco's platform told a different story. Zoom's transcription feature — AI by definition — was actively in use. Other platforms in the environment contained embedded large language models. AI was already in their footprint, whether they'd approved it or not.

Regulatory Exposure Across Cloud and SaaS

As a heavily regulated manufacturer, Axela needs continuous visibility across on-premises, cloud, and SaaS environments. Without a reliable way to inventory what applications existed, who was using them, and what data they could access, the security team had no way to demonstrate or enforce compliance. Manual inventory efforts were projected to take significant time and resources, and still wouldn't provide the ongoing monitoring they needed.

Step 1: Discovery

When Axela Biosciences implemented Reco, the speed of what they learned caught the team off guard in the best way. Aaron had budgeted significant hours and staff effort for the project. Instead, within days, they had a clear picture of their entire SaaS and AI footprint.

Key Findings Included:

• SaaS applications across the organization that leadership didn't know existed
• Active AI usage embedded in tools presumed to be AI-free
• Shadow applications and integrations running without IT oversight
• Gaps in coverage across on-prem, cloud, and SaaS environments
• Applications with access to corporate data outside of any compliance review

Step 2: Mitigation and Remediation

Gaining visibility was the first step. The next was using it to get ahead of risk, particularly as AI agents become a standard fixture in SaaS applications.

A Systematic Approach

Reco gave Axela Biosciences the foundation to move from reactive to proactive. Rather than scrambling to respond to discoveries after the fact, the team could now:

• Assess risk across all discovered applications in a single view
• Identify AI and LLM usage across the SaaS environment with specificity
• Prioritize remediation based on regulatory exposure and data access
• Bring concrete, visual evidence to executive stakeholders instead of estimates

Remediation and Ongoing Strategy

Reco helped Axela:

• Establish continuous monitoring across SaaS, cloud, and on-premises environments
• Build an AI governance strategy grounded in actual usage data rather than assumptions
• Develop a forward-looking framework for managing AI agents as they proliferate through SaaS platforms
• Engage Reco's team as an ongoing partner to help navigate AI and SaaS security decisions

"What surprised me most was how painless it was. We were projecting many hours, lots of responsibilities, more work for our team — and to have a solution that was able to come in and give us, almost instantly, within days, the true understanding of our footprint and our environment was very surprising in a positive way."

Aaron Ansari, Chief Information Security Officer Axela Biosciences

Result

Axela Biosciences went from significant blind spots to a continuously updated picture of their SaaS and AI environment — without the heavy lift they'd braced for.

Complete Visibility, Faster Than Expected

The security team now has the visibility needed to monitor every application with access to corporate data or resources — a direct requirement in a regulated industry. What was scoped as a long, resource-intensive project was delivered in days, freeing the team to act on what they found rather than spend months trying to find it.

AI Governance Grounded in Reality

One of the most significant outcomes wasn't on the original roadmap: an honest picture of where AI was already operating in the business. Axela's leadership had assumed AI was off. Reco showed them otherwise and gave Aaron the evidence he needed to have a real conversation about AI governance before agents became embedded in every SaaS workflow.

"Agents are going to be part of our SaaS applications and part of the business functions that we use, whether or not we approve it. It's certainly something we need to get our arms around quickly, because we don't want to be surprised by it."

Aaron Ansari, Chief Information Security Officer Axela Biosciences

A Partnership, Not Just a Vendor

The relationship with Reco extended beyond product deployment. Aaron described the Reco team as going beyond what's contractually required — actively helping Axela think through how AI and SaaS security intersect with their broader business decisions. That distinction, he said, made it a genuine partnership.

Proactive Risk Management in a Regulated Environment

• Continuous monitoring across SaaS, cloud, and on-premises environments
• Documented AI and LLM usage across the business, replacing assumption with evidence
• Compliance posture strengthened through full application visibility
• Security strategy built to keep pace with AI adoption across the SaaS ecosystem

About Reco

Reco is the leader in agent Ecosyetm security — eliminating the security gap driven by SaaS sprawl. The Reco Platform connects to your entire third-party environment, maps every relationship and action, and gives your team the context to act. New SaaS and agent integrations can be built in hours, enabling teams to keep innovating safely.