It seems to me that if you accept the notion that people will gravitate towards the easiest ways to get their jobs done, than you have to wonder if the tools and procedures you have in place are likely to encourage compliance, or force rebellion.\u00a0 As in the Matrix movies, what appears to be happening under the surface may actually be something completely different once you have peeled back the false construct you assume is reality.<\/p>\n
It has long been known that IT people are an innovative and, well, curious lot.\u00a0 We will try just about anything once, and if we find something that allows us to \u201cbetter\u201d manage our environments then we may cross over from the fringe into the shadowy world of the truly obscure in search of the truly arcane.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost a badge of honor to demonstrate how to solve IT challenges without relying on the industry best practices or accepted solutions.<\/p>\n
The real question is, is this really a bad thing?\u00a0 If you think back to The Matrix, the false construct did have its advantages.\u00a0 Sure, you were effectively enslaved by machines, but at least they gave you a good fantasy to operate within.\u00a0 You had juicy steak and cool clothes and the slickest cars (BTW that is a 1965 Lincoln Continental with the \u201csuicide doors\u201d in the movie).\u00a0 And as far as anyone else in that reality was concerned you were as legitimate as they were.\u00a0 So what\u2019s wrong with that, especially considering everyone else is in the same boat?<\/p>\n
Shadow IT, especially as it applied to IT Management<\/a>, may have its benefits, but it also carries a lot of risk.\u00a0 For every off-the-grid tool that performs a function within IT, or for every service you rely on that may not be fully vetted, you may have exposed your organization to potential abuses, both internal and external.\u00a0 Where do these tools come from?\u00a0 How reputable an organization was it that developed them?\u00a0 Does their use create security vulnerabilities?\u00a0 Do they violate standing policies or put at risk compliance?\u00a0 And is the information you\u2019re getting reliable?\u00a0 How critical are they to the underlying functionality of your business systems?\u00a0 Who on your team really understands their purpose and use?<\/p>\n So if we have accepted the fact that these tools and services exist, and that in all likelihood their use is prevalent in our industry, what do we do about it?\u00a0 To blunt their use is to shut the door on creative innovation within our teams.\u00a0 And frankly it\u2019s not that easy to stop. To lower our standards and policies and embrace their use could lead us into situations where our lack of control and enforcement results in bad things happening.<\/p>\n Red pill or blue pill?\u00a0 Do we accept the risks, and tell ourselves that those bad things are so unlikely to happen that the benefits outweigh the risks (or – hey I might just be the equivalent of a Duracell battery but since I don\u2019t know it I\u2019m happy)?\u00a0 Or do we drop into a harsh reality where getting things accomplished might be more difficult and frankly less visibly rewarding (or \u2013 I\u2019ve traded steak for Tastee Wheat but at least I know what I\u2019m really eating).\u00a0 What if there were a \u201cpurple\u201d pill available?\u00a0 An alternative to the options of pure fantasy or brutal reality?<\/p>\n There is a purple pill, and it\u2019s not an answer but a question.\u00a0 That question is why?\u00a0 Why does my team feel they need to \u201cjack-in\u201d in order to accomplish anything in our environment?\u00a0 Why can\u2019t they get done what they need to with the approved tools and service already at their disposal?\u00a0 Why do these policies and restrictions exist in the first place, and are those reasons still legitimate?<\/p>\n It\u2019s about structured enablement and inclusive decision-making.\u00a0 Gather your teams and work from the inside out.\u00a0 Start with what they feel needs to be accomplished to meet the organizational needs.\u00a0 Understand the gaps between how they work and the policies and procedures that are in place today.\u00a0 Are there areas of consolidation or elimination of steps that can be taken to improve efficiencies and render some of the shadow services useless?<\/p>\n As you re-architect your approaches, also look for ways to improve the working environment for your teams.\u00a0 Are there tasks they are required to perform that have become so rote and uninteresting that they have fallen into the shadows?\u00a0 If so, rather than re-populate your teams with these tasks, look to move them into a more tightly controlled environment.\u00a0 This may be accomplished by automation <\/a>or even by out-tasking to a provider (under a strictly defined and controlled contract with full auditing and reporting).\u00a0 And don\u2019t forget that these \u201cbasic\u201d functions are the foundation of a well-oiled IT machine.<\/p>\n In all transparency, I have watched The Matrix a number of times, and while my attempt to tie this concept of Shadow IT Management into the movie may have fallen short, I do think it\u2019s not whether you choose the red pill or the blue one, but it\u2019s the fact that you have the ability to make that choice at all.\u00a0 There is a difference, after all, in knowing the path and walking the path.\u00a0 Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By Geoff Smith, Sr. Solutions Architect The term \u201cShadow IT\u201d has gotten more and more people thinking about the challenges we all face as we try to reign in our IT management and operations.\u00a0 Recently, I caught a few minutes of the movie The Matrix\u2026now, that movie is a bit of a visual trip,…Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,47,1551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cloud-computing","category-it-management","category-shadow-it"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
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