Cloud apps are widely used in the workplace, whether approved by IT or not, according to a new report by cloud security vendor Skyhigh Networks which shows the average company uses a whopping 626 cloud services. While many of these apps present risk to the company, blocking them may not be the answer according to Skyhigh CEO Rajiv Gupta. "What we find is that employees are just going to stop using services that are blocked and using other ones that are potentially riskier."

1. Shadow IT Not Limited to Rogue Employees
Cloud apps are widely used in the workplace, whether approved by IT or not, according
to a new report by cloud security vendor Skyhigh Networks which shows the average
company uses a whopping 626 cloud services. While many of these apps present risk to
the company, blocking them may not be the answer according to Skyhigh CEO Rajiv
Gupta. "What we find is that employees are just going to stop using services that are
blocked and using other ones that are potentially riskier."
So-called “Shadow IT” is technology in the workplace that is not approved or even
known to the IT department. In recent years there has been a sharp increase in
unapproved technology due to the ease in which employees can download an app onto his
or her phone or tablet. The large variety of cloud apps has accelerated, and ranges from
departments buying a service to individual employees using one.
When one app is blocked, the report shows that employees quickly find another, similar
service to accomplish the same task. Since IT generally is aware of larger, brand name
cloud apps, blocking them forces employees to use lesser-known riskier services that put
the company’s data at risk.
Instead of banning cloud services, some IT executives are beginning to see value in
embracing it. Even the term “Shadow IT” has a negative connotation, but it should be
seen as an opportunity. By empowering employees to use cloud services they use to close
more deals, deliver personalized service to customers, companies can be more agile and
adapt to rapid change faster than if employees had to wait for IT approval for small
projects or productivity enhancing apps.
IT departments have seen themselves as the owner and provider of technology but there
is a shift happening where they are increasingly enablers or shepherds instead of builders
and providers. This can be an uncomfortable change for many in IT who see their role as
the final gatekeeper or decider of what technology the company will use. However, this
traditional mentality can make IT seem like blocker stopping other people in the
company from driving innovation and growing the business.
Gartner sees a new role developing in IT where it acts as a broker of services and adds
value to the cloud service, instead of building the entire application. While this function
can be outsourced to a third party service provider, a majority of respondents in a recent
Gartner survey showed that 80% viewed the CIO or her direct reports as responsible for
this new cloud service broker role. That can include integration between cloud services

2. and on-premise applications and databases, or adding additional security and compliance
capabilities to cloud services.
The cloud service broker role is being embraced by IT departments, with 43% planning
to deploy some of these capabilities, Gartner expects one third of companies will have
deployed a cloud service broker framework by end of 2014. The key to success in
brokering cloud services is to partner with the business early in the process to understand
the workflows employees are using and partner with them. The challenge for IT is to
speak to the business in a new language.
Instead of focusing on the technology and security, IT departments increasingly are
learning to speak the language of their business constituents, talking in terms of business
objectives instead of pure technology. This helps them be seen as partners in achieving
these objectives, and reduces the risk of being seen as out of touch with what the business
needs to do to create value.