New research from The Access Group shows that 35% of UK workers admit to using generative artificial intelligence without telling their managers. As employee use of artificial intelligence is on the rise, many organizations are still developing their plans for how to manage its use. Shadow AI is quickly becoming a challenge for many IT teams.
Shadow IT is not a new concept. The rapid development of SaaS technology has created technology diffusion within organizations as employees use technical tools to support their daily work. IT is often out of the loop about technology used in their organizations, so what options do they have to manage new technology, including AI and the risks that come with it? The answer lies in making it easier for employees to bring new technology into the organization with IT’s involvement.
The root cause of shadow IT
There are many reasons why employees choose to bring unauthorized technology into their organizations. In the UK, hybrid working models, easy access to cloud services and the development of artificial intelligence have meant that shadow IT has become a major concern for businesses. Some employees may also choose to bring in their own technology because they are too busy or worried that they will inconvenience IT if they go through the proper channels. Whatever the reason, the root cause of shadow IT adoption is tied to inefficient and perhaps broken processes.
But the responsibility does not lie only with the employees. For example, if an employee follows the process of submitting a technology request, but it is delayed or goes unnoticed by the IT team, they will likely turn to shadow IT as well. In this scenario, organizations not only open themselves up to security issues around unauthorized software, but it also burdens IT teams and wastes time on employee work requests.
The key to improving IT processes
Too often, inefficient processes exist because they are manual and discontinuous. Companies don’t know where the breakdown is because they have no insight into the end-to-end process, data isn’t shared between the people and systems it should be, and the user experience is fraught with challenges. This is where process automation comes into play.
That statement may seem self-evident, especially in connection with IT processes. But unfortunately, many companies struggle to automate their processes, including IT processes. The reasons vary, including manual processes that are complex and difficult to automate, legacy systems lacking the integrations needed to automate, and more.
Following a simple framework for automation can help most organizations overcome these challenges:
- Identify where automation can be useful and applied
- Automate these processes with low-code tools
- Scale adoption of new processes through modern, user-friendly user interfaces
By following this framework, organizations can speed up the fulfillment of new IT requests and curb shadow IT use. Here are a few examples: Map the IT fulfillment process – Get an end-to-end view of each step in the fulfillment process to visualize where bottlenecks and inefficiencies occur. Common bottlenecks occur around granting requests and leaving reviews in the pending phase.
Improve the experience and scale engagement – It is also important to look at the user experience to ensure it has low barriers to entry. How do employees submit their requests to the modernized process? By leveraging low-code application development tools, you can create an employee onboarding form that is digital and intuitive to use.
Automate bottlenecks – Once you’ve identified where the inefficiencies are in the process and modernized the user experience, apply automation to streamline the issues. For example, automation can help you avoid requests getting stuck in the “assignment” stage by automatically assigning requests to the appropriate team or team member. It is important to note that automated processes can succeed with a “set it and forget it” mindset. Continuous monitoring and improvement is needed to ensure that the process is working correctly.
The rapid development of technologies such as AI will only exacerbate the shadow IT challenge. That’s why organizations need to modernize their IT processes today to avoid further shadow IT creep and prevent future security risks. End-to-end process automation is key to understanding where IT processes break down, applying automation and scaling new processes for maximum engagement – all while reducing the need for employees to turn to shadow IT for their technology needs .
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