Over the past few decades, technology has created a modern digital workforce that is tech-savvy and adept at finding innovative solutions that can help them succeed at work. However, with 95% of employees struggling with digital friction in the workplace – including a lack of access to the right tools – ambitious employees hungry for results have often had to look for solutions that fall outside the scope of their employers’ existing systems.
Additionally, the popularity of cloud-based apps has meant that business processes have often become fragmented across systems, requiring employees to spend time on manual maintenance. This has accelerated the spread of (unnecessarily ominous-sounding) “shadow IT,” or applications that smart workers use without official permission to help them bypass restrictions and get work done. In a perfect world, a balance can be struck between giving these technically skilled employees the freedom to integrate and optimize processes, while ensuring that IT remains in charge of the technology at an architectural level.
The traditional approach of tightly controlled IT landscapes within organizations no longer works as well as it used to, given the proliferation of systems for virtually every task, making it untenable in many cases for IT to do everything. Shadow IT is a natural evolution that comes from employees becoming more comfortable with digital tools and it looks like this is here to stay. Gartner finds that this accounts for 30 to 40% of all IT spending in large enterprises, even though research shows that almost seven in ten organizations have done this. has been endangered as a result.
That said, there are plenty of opportunities to benefit from and nurture a new generation of strategic business technologists. Organizations that master this shift will benefit in many ways toward better business results and a positive impact on the customer and employee experience.
Turn the story around
For technology and business leaders, shadow IT is not only a risk, but also an opportunity to relieve pressure on IT departments. The ability of experienced employees to identify and resolve application issues relieves IT of the need to develop solutions and integrate them at an organizational level. Rather than shouldering the burden of finding or building new solutions on their own, technology leaders can instead take on a more strategic, oversight role by overseeing how employee-recommended applications are integrated with existing enterprise architectures.
This is especially critical to account for the generational differences emerging within the modern workforce as digital natives (those who grew up in a technology-led world) begin to play a greater role. Business leaders can empower these younger workers to be part of decisions about the technology the business uses and help upskill less tech-savvy colleagues. This also helps address the skill shortages faced by the IT industry.
A transparent approach, where employees do not covertly lean on unauthorized applications out of sight, will help strengthen cybersecurity vulnerabilities while also empowering these de facto business technologists (those who sit outside of IT but have the skills to ensure their organization gets the most value) from its technology investments), the freedom to find and implement solutions that really work.
Creating a culture where integration comes first
As a next step, business leaders should focus on uncovering the underlying motivations behind the use of shadow IT. Often it involves effectively finding solutions to common data integration problems, such as systems that are not updated in real time and require manual input. Companies should work to develop a coherent plan for recommending, testing and ultimately adopting IT applications that align with their strategy, objectives and existing application portfolio.
The consequences of inaccurate and mismatched data can be significant, with the Alan Turing Institute estimating that poor data quality costs the UK economy £10 to 20 billion annually. Organizations will increasingly rely on data to inform their decision-making, especially as they scale. However, data silos create barriers that hinder collaboration, creativity and progress. Once IT teams become aware of the applications being used and their purposes through great transparency, they can work to integrate them more efficiently.
This increases the speed and accuracy with which business decisions can be made, thanks to better data availability and timeliness.
Emerging from the shadows
Taming shadow IT will become increasingly important as it becomes more widespread: Gartner predicts that 75% of all employees will use some form of it by 2027.
Deploying business technologists is an essential way for companies that want to stay ahead. Because many are already adept at automating workflows, they have the potential to fill the technical skills gaps that many companies struggle to address. While they may not have all the necessary skills, given the lack of options in the market, an effective middle ground would be to pair these technically skilled employees with low- or no-code platforms, taking the pressure off stretched IT teams is illuminated. IT teams will continue to be at the helm of the broader technology strategy, but because business technologists will ultimately have the most hands-on experience and will know where the technology gaps lie within the business, they will be invaluable in finding solutions if their skills are nurtured properly. .
As companies increasingly adopt cloud-based applications, the biggest winners will be those who can stay ahead and see shadow IT as a fast track to a more innovative and integrated approach to business technology
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This article was produced as part of Ny BreakingPro’s Expert Insights channel, where we profile the best and brightest minds in today’s technology industry. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Ny BreakingPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing, you can read more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro