Whitepaper
Shadow IT - The Illusion Of Control
With the advent of Software as a Service (SAAS), technology now has become more accessible and it's being sold directly to Line-of-Business leaders; often bypassing IT leaders. However, despite this commoditisation, fundamental issues remain. Matters such as data security, integration and productivity, just to name a few, are some of the important issues that need to be examined.
According to a survey of nearly 400 CIO’s by Logicalis in 2015, nearly 1 in 3 CIOs are bypassed ‘often’, ‘very often’ or ‘most of the time.’ (on Technology decisions).
This whitepaper addresses these issues and answers the following two questions:
1. How does the IT leadership Team respond in the short term?
2. How does Shadow IT affect the role of IT leadership in the organisation?
In answering these questions, it can be demonstrated that the role of IT continues to serve a pivotal role in the organisation. However, the value can only be realised through engaging and influencing business partners, who require more than just technical expertise; they also require business relationship management competencies.
What are the learnings?
Key point 1:
Assets that are strategic, generate customer value and are fundamental to the business model, need to be managed within the business boundaries and access controlled accordingly.
Key point 2:
To deliver the business strategy, one needs to understand the IT department’s key strengths and then collaborate based on those strengths.
Key point 3 :
Third party IT services are becoming more accessible, more numerous and are fulfilling a variety of new requirements that are inevitably going to attract more tech savvy Business Partners. The IT Department cannot compete with third party suppliers on all of the strengths, in all of the niches and on all fronts at all times. Therefore, for most organisations, a blended approach is required.
Key point 4 :
Delivering the business strategy is based in part on organisation change management, risk management, portfolio management and governance. The lack of these strengths or capabilities, irrespective of where they are placed in the organisation, is often an oversight whilst Business Partners and IT function slug it out for the illusion of control.
Key point 5:
There is a strong case for the role of Business Relationship Management to be enabled in the organisation as a consequence of Shadow IT. The BRM role has the competencies that match to a greater degree the governance and planning capabilities outlined above.
The following report includes:
Immediate Response to requests - 7 Steps
Activities over the subsequent months - 7 Steps
IT Leadership - 7 considerations