Following the Footsteps of Shadow IT

A practice good or evil? A habit to be encouraged or discouraged? A phenomenon beneficial or detrimental for a company? Questions like these ones are commonplace when attributing to shadow IT, a perfect name given to a tradition that has seen an exponential increase with advancement. The use of personal devices and unauthorized applications in office premises is being viewed as an advantage by some, whereas the others are worried about the consequences.

Increasing usage of personal devices is a result of the ease and satisfaction that  people have when working in their own environments like home. From unapproved excel macros in the initial phase to hitech devices and multidimensional apps and softwares now; there has been an increase in the leverage from shadow IT. This on one hand lets the employees work freely and more efficiently, and on the other, sometimes gives the companies a hard time owing to their data security concerns.

For at least a decade, tech savvy employees have made it with unauthorized devices and unapproved third party apps and cloud software services into their workspaces and often managers find themselves caught in the balancing act on how to safeguard company information while still encouraging creativity, freedom and productivity. Also, with the introduction of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ or BYOD policy in many corporate centers, this is the marking of the beginning of massive support to shadow IT.

Ascent of shadow IT can pose numerous security risks to companies but also extends a hand towards thinking out of the box for employees and bringing out easy problem solving to the desk. Imposing restrictions or limiting this concept will not yield solution. It is instead the need of the hour to mitigate the laws undermining shadow IT and use it for the benefit of both, the employee and the company.

Please let us know what you think about the increase in the use of personal devices in office workspaces. We would love to hear from you.