Written by Dennis Groenveld, Country Manager at Devoteam G Cloud UK
In this article you will learn about the phenomenon of shadow IT. A common example of Shadow IT is the creation of Google accounts by your employees. Get to know how you can avoid the risks that this brings to your organisation.
Although it is my very firm belief that employees typically try to do things in the best interest of the company they work for, they are not always provided with the right tools to do their jobs. The result is a big monster called “Shadow-IT”.
Shadow IT brings the nastiness of a lack of control, such as data loss prevention, security, compliance, data ownership into your organisation.
A common use case of Shadow IT: the creation of company Google accounts
Here’s a list of top 3 use-cases where employees sign-up for a “free” Google account and have placed their employer in check-mate position:
A Google account is created on the companies email address:
- For productivity services. Users need Google Drive to collaborate internally or externally with other “Google Users”
- For marketing purposes. Services like YouTube (channels), Blogger, Adsense, Adwords, Google Search Central (previously Webmaster Tools)
- For data visualisation: Data Studio
What all of the above have in common is that data stored in a consumer account is not owned by the company but by the individual that has done the setup. This makes (legal) compliance a real challenge and is certainly a risk.
How do you avoid this as a company?
Quite easily! Just sign up for Google Workspace Essentials. You will be in control of who can use Google services within your domain, and those who cannot. For companies needing Google Workspace applications like Meet, Drive, Calendar, Chat, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites or Keep: you will only be billed if they are active users as well as storage. Are you not familiar yet with Google Workspace? Our experts have written an article that points out the 10 benefits of Google workspace and how it will help you elevate your business.
Need help?
Your company can easily avoid the most common use case of Shadow IT: free Google accounts. Take control back in your own hands with Google Workspace essentials and protect your organisation. Feel free to reach out to our experts to get acquainted with the solutions we can offer.
