Shadow IT
Shadow IT, once confined to unapproved macros in MS Excel has now grown exponentially over the years becoming a major part of IT firms and introducing new security risks arising from unsupported hardware or software.
What is Shadow IT?
It is any hardware or software inside the organisation which hasn’t yet been approved by the IT department of that organization, thus, information technology projects managed without the knowledge of the IT department.
The rise in Shadow IT and its increased usage was due to desire of the employees to get direct and instant access to any software or technology without the need to go through any corporate channels. Recently, this has spread to the need to use their own personal technology at work
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Around a half of the surveyed individuals recognize the risks of Shadow IT but even this sense of risk is not stopping these employees from deterring from its usage.
By 2020, 40% of the IT budget will be spend outside the IT department according to estimates. With this widespread use to Shadow IT, the risks it brings along has become quite obvious. It can easily become a barrier to an enterprise’s IT compliance, such as when a user is using Google Drive for storing company data in place of the company provided cloud storage service(s). It can also impact the experience of other employees in the organisation. Free flow of data across the organisation may be hampered and monitoring of such data flow can become a concern.
But, even with the severity of the risks involved, it is necessary to understand that the world will not recognize a ban of Shadow IT, if ever there is going to be one. It is here to stay, that’s for sure. Employees will not stop bringing or using their own personal cloud services or their mobile phones or tablets at work. The best IT organisations can hope for is to embrace Shadow IT and create restrictions at proper junctions. After all, Shadow IT is making employees more innovative at their work and making their jobs a little more likeable, thereby, increasing the overall