Shadow IT

What Does Shadow IT Mean?

Shadow IT is used to describe IT solutions and systems created and applied inside companies and organizations without their authorization. This is considered a vital foundation for technological advancement and innovation because these efforts can become potential prototypes for IT solutions that are approved in the future. Even though these solutions can help in the advancement of IT innovations, they may not conform to the company’s requirements in terms of reliability, documentation, control, security and more.

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Techopedia Explains Shadow IT

There are some complications that may occur with shadow IT other than security risks:

  • It causes additional expenses and uses up organizations’ precious time because they have to deliberate the legitimacy of the source of certain data.
  • The different versions that are frequently modified from shadow IT data create inconsistencies in business logic. Because of these inconsistencies, misunderstandings of the concepts and misuse of the data usually happens and goes unnoticed.
  • Shadow IT can also become a hindrance to advancement and innovation in the IT industry because it can block more efficient work processes.
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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…