shadow it - what is it, why it happens and how to resolve
DESCRIPTION
A lot of ITSM practitioners are bogged down by the concept of Shadow IT - the practice of purchasing or using technology for the workplace without the approval or knowledge of the IT department. This slide deck looks into why businesses resort to the practice of shadow IT, the various challenges and how to resolve the conflicts between IT and business units. Read the complete story at http://blog.freshservice.com/shadow-it-bringing-it-out-of-the-shadows/ This article was originally published in The ITSM Review.TRANSCRIPT
Bringing IT out of the shadows
What is Shadow IT?
The act of purchasing or using technology for the workplace without the approval or knowledge of the IT
department is called Shadow IT.
Examples
• DevOps team purchasing an instance of a caching server to balance load bypassing IT in order to not have users suffer downtime
• Sales team sharing crucial customer data, even internally, using a personal account of Google Drive
• Using an unauthorised pen drive. Yep!
Why does this happen?
• IT Department is considered slow and bureaucratic by business units in some organizations.
• With the market moving at breakneck speed, business units don’t want to wait for IT to fulfil service requests.
• Overzealous employees with (mostly) good intentions
WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
The catalysts
• Cloud technology
• eCommerce
• Tech savvy credit card toting managers
• Consumerization of technology
Is the practice of Shadow IT bad?
Business says
NO.
IT says
YES.
We don’t have ,me to fill forms
If you don’t fill forms, there will be
miscommunica,on
We can do our own tech research, thank you.
We do that too. And we are paid to do it.
IT is s,ll stuck in with 80s soBware. Stable soBware, anyone?
We have the latest soBware at our
finger,ps
Good luck troubleshoo,ng.
I’d rather take ad-‐hoc decision to keep
business afloat than wait for IT
Following processes is good for the long term.
Business IT
Business units• The need to get things done ASAP.
• Decentralisation of decision making the norm.
• Decreased bureaucracy
• Lean organisations and flatter hierarchies.
IT say
If IT is expected to help you with your tech, they need to be aware of the techs you use.
If IT is expected to firefight, they also need to define security guidelines to prevent the fires.
Proactive is the way to go. Reactive is so 2004.
Risks involved• Acquisition of software from dubious sources –
download sites, cloud services with poor security
• Ill-researched information leading to bad tech choices
• Bug infested software
• Obvious data security risks
• Risk of malware or virus infiltrating the corporate network
“By 2015, 35% of enterprise IT expenditures for most organisations will be managed outside the IT department’s budget.”
35%Source
How to resolve• Broad-minded CIO
The CIO is to the IT organization what the CEO is to the business.
• Openness of the IT department
Processes should be designed around the business and not the other way round.
• Communication
Let business know the repercussions of bypassing IT. Earn their respect.
• Protect and to serve
After all, IT can’t fight something if we don’t know what we are fighting.
In conclusion• Shadow IT is necessary evil.
• Look at Shadow IT as something that takes burden off IT while ensuring necessary processes are followed.
• IT and business units should work together to ensure a smooth and productive work environment.
Bring IT out of the shadows.
Learn more about managing assets in your organisation here.
This article was originally published in
freshservice.com [email protected]