What is Shadow IT?
- Hardware: Personal laptops, mobile devices, or external storage devices used for work purposes.
- Services: Cloud storage platforms, unauthorised online collaboration tools, or freelancing services for IT tasks.
Use cases
Shadow IT can emerge in various scenarios:
- Marketing teams using unauthorised social media management tools.
- Sales departments employing cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solutions outside the approved suite.
- Employees using personal cloud storage to share work documents due to limitations on internal storage solutions.
Key components
- Unapproved applications: Software downloaded from the internet or accessed through personal accounts.
- Unsanctioned devices: Personal laptops, tablets, or smartphones used for work without IT department oversight.
- Unmanaged cloud services: Cloud storage platforms or collaboration tools used outside the organisation’s approved subscriptions.
