The pandemic only increased our reliance on unsanctioned apps. Yet, IT lacks the insight to see which apps employees are using and, thus, struggles to protect sensitive data. Uri Haramati, CEO and co-founder of Torii, sheds light on the present state of shadow IT and how we can better understand this domain.
Any experienced parent has had to run the drill of a good ol’ bedtime monster-hunt. Your children call you to their room, afraid of what hides under the bed or in the closet. You, as their protector, look in all the shadows and dark corners of the bedroom. Finally, you confidently declare, “There are no monsters!â€Â
To a child, shadows hide something ominous, possibly insidious, but you are there to reassure them all that’s under their bed is the toy they were supposed to put away. As we grow older, we stop fearing the literal shadows and turn our anxiety towards the metaphorical shadows—the unknowns.Â
What’s Hiding in the Shadows?
We don’t like what we can’t see. In the workplace, we have Shadow IT – the hidden technology of our organizations. It’s a term that carries the weight of anxiety and discomfort due to associations with:Â
- Lack of visibility
- Security risks
- Poor communicationÂ
- Bloated spend
Nevertheless, Shadow IT has grown. More cloud apps are added every day by employees and department heads alike.Â
See More: The Future of SaaS and Backups: Is this the End of the Set-It-Forget-It Era?
Why We Can’t Eliminate Shadow IT
You might think this recipe for disaster means we should simply crush Shadow IT, right? That, however, is not the answer. Could you eliminate all unsanctioned applications? Probably not – it’d be like playing whack-a-mole. Even if it was possible, it would really be beneficial or worth the time and process commitment? You see, while Shadow IT might be scary, it embodies our new reality and supports innovation, optimization and growth.Â
Software is the present-day workplace. Our physical workplaces have primarily been replaced with tools and applications. We have brainstorming meetings in Miro, team meetings on Zoom, chat and talk over Slack, manage customer relationships in Salesforce, share work in Google Suite and Office 365 – software is clearly foundational to getting things done.Â
So, when your employees download a new app, it’s not for fun. It’s because they intend to use it. They’re trying to hit their numbers this month. They’re finding ways to execute their tasks better and faster. They’re trying to optimize their performance. Instead of fretting over the inclusion of these new tools, let’s find a way to manage them better, so we allow innovation to flourish without risking bloated budgets and data security.Â
Illuminate the Shadows with Discovery and SaaS ManagementÂ
Discovery is a term within SaaS Management circles, and it refers to the capability to see which applications exist and are used within the organization. There are different ways to accomplish discovery, but here are the hallmarks of an effective system:Â
- Users don’t have to do anything manually: Asking employees to manually log activity or report all applications won’t work. Filling out a Google sheet with all the apps they use will never be more important than their “actual jobâ€. Instead, your discovery method should run in the background and automatically detect every purchased and used app.Â
- The discovery is accurate: Traditional discovery solutions often work best when everyone is in an office, using company-approved equipment, on the company’s internet provider. But, that’s not how we work today. We need to prioritize tools that use endpoint discovery to automatically catch the user’s activity every time, whether they’re using their own or the company’s devices, remote working via VPNs, or are on coffee shop wifi.
- It tells you the next step (and does it for you): Knowledge without action is useless. Once you’ve identified shadow apps, you need actionable next steps – ones that are automated by the SaaS management system. This includes flagging unknown apps, investigating, and de-provisioning when necessary. You must have a simple way to automate these and many other tasks, or they may not get accomplished.
See More: Why You Should Mind the SaaS Gap in Your Cloud Data Protection Strategy
Light Up with the Right Tools
With SaaS Management and discovery, you gain insight as you illuminate the shadows. This visibility allows you to tackle Shadow IT challenges head-on. The three main benefits of the right tools have been listed below:
Reduced Risks: Without shadows, security threats have no place to linger and fester. Breaches and suspect apps are quickly identified with automated processes. SaaS management tools can also handle other app-related security threats such as offboarding former employees and automatically de-provisioning unused licenses.Â
Improved Communication and Collaboration: When Shadow IT is unaddressed, duplicate licenses and redundant applications take root in the organization. Some might use Office 365, and others use Google Suite. Some use Asana, and others use Monday. All of these tools are terrific, but it’s critical to keep your team united and communicative for the tools to be effective. With SaaS management, you identify the overlapping tools and can even view usage data to make informed decisions about how to streamline the organization and reduce knowledge silos.Â
Controlled Spend: One of the greatest burdens of shadow IT is wasted spend. It’s not wise to let an organization’s app licenses to go unused. With SaaS management, you can immediately identify those surplus licenses and automatically deprovision them. Or, you can eliminate entire tools that you discover you don’t need.
It’s time to rethink how we view shadow IT. With discovery and automation enabled by SaaS management, there’s no need to fear the shadows. Instead, you can utilize the tools to their full full capacity without the usual security concerns.
Have you used any SaaS management tools to dispel the darkness shrouding shadow IT? Tell us all about it on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to learn from you!