Why do we care about Shadow IT
The good news is that application used without the direct approval, or knowledge, of the IT department are typically not malicious downloads. IT realizes that often these applications are being used by employees that have good intentions and the creativity to work around problems.
While harmless in the eyes of the users, Shadow IT can introduce issues involving security and data integrity and lineage. These issues can be especially damaging when they occur in a highly regulated industry such as Financial Services or Banking. They not only can put profits at risk, but also reputation and executive liability. Knowing what applications your employees are using becomes a critical point of clarity and the first step to control.
How can IT stay ahead?
IT departments usually have a very manual system for discovery, which today usually relies upon self-reporting or catching things during tickets. IT must step up to deploy automated tools that scan the entire network for all End User Computing (EUC) Shadow IT items operating on their network. Relying on the honor system is risky since some apps might not even register to the user as dangerous or outside the purview of approved applications. Using automation to discover what’s going on in business systems can be a bridge to a working “trust but verify” relationship that benefits IT and users.
How can Incisive help?
Incisive Software specializes in Shadow IT and EUCs. From an IT perspective, Incisive’s Discovery and Management Suite can save significant labor hours. With no overhead regarding maintenance and a simple one time installation, the oversight and management of networks at the department or organizational level can be done with minimal operational expense. The main goal of the Incisive Suite is to provide insights as to find out where and why Shadow IT is appearing so IT can assess risk and determine what issues caused their adoption in the first place. These EUCs then can be either integrated or managed, effectively bridging the gap between business agility and IT discipline/security needs.
