How to Overcome Shadow IT

Shadow IT opens the door to cyberattacks, data breach, data loss, and other problems that may hinder the operation of your business. Moreover, about 40% of purchases performed within a company are outside of the IT department based on Gartner research.

When problems due to shadow IT arise, it will force your employees to focus on fixing the issue rather than finishing other important tasks. So aside from cybersecurity risks, the damage shadow IT can bring will have a domino effect on your workforce.

Still, you can find ways to eliminate shadow IT in your organization. Here are some steps you should know:

Start by educating your employees

Shadow IT remains one of the leading issues within the workforce due to the company’s failure to educate its employees. Most employees who resort to this solution are usually oblivious of the harm that it may bring.

Start by informing your employees about the harm that unregulated software and hardware can bring to your workplace. Also, demand that each employee seek approval from the IT department before using any form of technology.

Conduct a software/hardware audit

By auditing your organization’s IT infrastructure, you’ll know what’s there and what needs to be eliminated. In short, check what’s running on your radar.

For this, you should mobilize your IT department to conduct a comprehensive audit of the software and hardware within the company. However, this will be challenging, especially if you’re allowing a BYOD practice.

Once you detected shadow IT, act fast and replace it with better solutions.

Streamline your unit management

Make sure that you streamline your unit management so your employees can easily raise issues about roadblocks on their work. This way, they won’t resort to any shadow IT options whenever they need an urgent solution.

Communicate with your employees

Communication is the key when it comes to combatting shadow IT within your organization. Also, you should reinforce the accessibility of your IT department so employees can easily ask for assistance if they need certain software or hardware.

Moreover, make it a habit to run a compatibility test for the software that will be deployed on your organization.

Provide solutions right away

By acting fast and providing solutions right away, your employees will no longer have to seek alternatives on their own. This is the reason why you should always be open to the IT needs of your employees.

Also, imposing sanctions to those who violate your anti-shadow IT policy is a solid statement to your commitment to a cyber-safe workplace.

Wrapping up

Shadow IT is rampant among workplaces. But as much as it offers an instant and convenient solution, it will start to cause problems in the long run. The key here is to remove any forms of shadow IT through auditing your system and educating your employees.

It may take a long time to eradicate all forms of shadow IT in your company, but it’s still a good start in securing your network against cyber threats.