07-08-16 | Blog Post
Recently, Yan Ness and Bill Frohriep of Online Tech held a thought leadership event with a dozen business and IT executives at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club.
The main topic on the agenda was Shadow IT, or “IT behind the scenes.” Shadow IT refers to companies who implement IT projects without the department’s knowledge (or permission, in some cases), usually because the internal IT department is too slow or doesn’t have enough resources to respond to requests. An example of shadow IT is a company who requests a secure document exchange application, grows impatient with its IT department’s lack of support or response to that request, and decides to set up Google Docs without informing the IT department. These types of actions can lead to a breakdown in internal communications and are potential security risks, which make CIOs very nervous.
So how can organizations solve this problem? Ness believes that in order for internal IT to be successful, it must be available as easily as the outside market. According to Ness, proper infrastructure is needed to support internal IT functions, and outsourcing that to a fully managed provider is the best way to do it. When the right infrastructure is in place, internal IT employees are free to work on core company missions, leading to faster turnaround times, and a better competitive advantage in the market.
The other topic discussed at the event was cybersecurity and how difficult it is for executives to convince their boards to continue spending money on it when nothing went wrong the previous year. Ness explained that companies are essentially buying silence, and executives must continue to stress the value of data to their boards as a justification for continued cybersecurity spends.
The event was a great success, and Ness said he is looking forward to having a second, similar event at the club later in the summer.
