What is Shadow IT?

Shadow IT is the use of any tool or technology (software or hardware) by employees for work-related activities without their IT manager’s consent. 

It is termed “shadow” because it is difficult to suspect and trace its resultant effects and because most of those guilty of the act are not even aware of how risky this act is.

Shadow IT could be in the form of employees sharing company documents within the team with cloud-based file storage like Google Drive and Dropbox without the IT manager’s consent or an employee installing a cracked application to hasten their work process. The most difficult to suspect is when employees log in to their personal accounts on a company device.

These don’t look harmful, do they? Of course, initially, they don’t, but don’t forget that’s exactly why it is called “shadow IT.”

In some situations, employees do this because it’s a faster way to get work done and bypass the cumbersome procedure of getting approvals before using any software; they then resort to installing or using the software or hardware on their own.

So, why Exactly Should an IT Manager be Concerned About Shadow IT?

According to Gartner, a third of successful cyberattacks experienced by enterprises will most likely be on their shadow IT resources. As cybersecurity is a top priority for IT managers, one loophole that should be addressed is discouraging shadow IT. 

Most of these unauthorized tools are vulnerable, and they introduce this vulnerability to any organization’s system as soon as they are mounted on them. As a result of this vulnerability, an organization may lose critical data to an attack they don’t know where it’s coming from. 

Imagine the Avengers roaring at the war front against an unseen Thanos!

It will always be a timebomb waiting to explode, except it is discovered and detonated early.

How then Can you Avoid Shadow IT in your Workforce?

Should it have been “avoid” or “end”? Anyways, these tips work and would always help you manage a workforce free of shadow IT:

Sensitize your Workforce

Most of your team members are unaware they are giving away the keys to the security room by using these softwares or hardwares. So it’s up to you to give them the necessary orientation so they would not only comply but see how dangerous it will be if they don’t.

Manage your Mobile Devices

Employing an effective mobile device manager (MDM) like SmartMDM can help you take charge of the apps that work and those that cannot work on your organization’s devices. With an MDM, you can detect unfriendly activities by simply managing your devices from a central dashboard.

Provide Necessary Support as soon as it is Needed

Be available for your teammates as soon as they need any IT support so they don’t go out looking for alternatives behind you, as they are also concerned about getting their jobs done without delays. Apart from technical support, you could facilitate the purchase of secure tools the team can adopt instead.

Final Takeaway

Never Lose Guard

Ensure your firewalls are as active as they should be and leave no room for any malware to creep in. You are the watchperson of your organization, and they are counting on you for utmost security.

Mobile devices (Point of Sale {POS}, phones, computers, and other work tools) are integral parts of any contemporary business’ assets. Besides being core to helping employees function properly, they greatly improve general productivity in any department.

As it is crucial to ensure that your organization’s devices serve their purposes in the hands of every employee, how can your organization experience growth through mobile device management?

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

Here are 5 Ways your Company can Grow Through Mobile Device Management

Data Security

Protecting your company’s data is as important as gathering these data in the first place. Cyberattack is currently on a high and every careless company’s firewall is being targeted by all means. Losing critical data to the hands of cyberattackers may not only stop the growth process but force a company into closing up prematurely. Imagine losing critical documents containing a list of high paying leads; having your mobile devices secured, locked and unlocked from a central point could save the day.

Compliance

The more aligned your workforce is to the company policies, values, and vision, the quicker it takes to reach a common goal. Managing your company’s mobile devices by ensuring that only the permitted applications or softwares are used is a way to ensure compliance and eradicate distractions at work, hence everyone performs their expected parts in the quest for growth.

Efficiency

Efficiency is basically doing the right things at the right time. Imagine procrastinating about pitching a prospective customer till after the close of normal work hours; the job may be done, but the desired result may not be achieved. WIth a mobile device management plan that shows real-time device activities, you can ensure team members are up to their tasks at the right time. When all hands are on deck, the expected results are inevitable.

Installation of Productive Applications/Softwares

When there is a standard mobile device manager in place, it takes a few clicks from a central admin screen to install tools and softwares that will improve employee’s productivity. The more productive tools employees use to execute their tasks, the higher the results they record.

Stopping Shadow IT

Shadow IT is a major hindrance to growth. It is the use of unauthorized applications or work tools for official purposes. Due to the security threat it poses, it could deal a huge blow to the company’s growth and a way to avoid this is ensuring that every tool or software used at work are properly screened to ensure their credibility.

Now SmartMDM is a solution that walks with you through your business growth process by helping you ensure that your mobile devices boost your employees’ efficiency, productivity, data security, and compliance.

Learn more about how SmartMDM is tailored for businesses like yours!

The past few years have witnessed undeniable developments and expansion of fintechs in Africa, as 576 startups were in full operation in the first half of 2021, according to a report by Statista. Meanwhile, more are still undergoing incubation and are almost ready to hatch! 

In all of these exploits, major factors that contribute to the exceptional solutions fintechs provide are the input of technology through the use of mobile devices and the flexibility of work the industry guarantees.

Unlike traditional banks and other tech giants, most fintechs offer their employees a flexible work experience to work remotely at their pace; who doesn’t want a soft life? But this work mode is only justifiable by how efficient employees can be while working away from the office.  

However, the use of these mobile devices outside the reach of the IT admin, if not managed properly, could tell on the user’s productivity and could also spell loopholes for every critical data the devices carry. Imagine how devastating it would be for a company to experience a clean swoop of customers’ data and funds to unknown cybercriminals after a staff strayed into a random website and downloaded a free software with encrypted malware!

Ensuring the best service deliveries while working with these mobile devices is as important as protecting the data they carry, and that’s where proper mobile device management comes in. Why should fintechs prioritize managing their mobile devices?

Why Fintechs Need to Manage Their Mobile Devices

There is the HQ, and your Mobile Devices are your Branches

Mobile devices, their users, and the tasks performed on the devices together account for how customers perceive an organization; people generally choose to believe that whatever information goes out to the public is released by the company and not a single employee. Therefore, mobile device activities must be managed to ensure the information they gather and release only tally with the organization’s tenets and reputation.

Reducing Fraud Risk

On a more critical level, defrauding a fintech does not only ruin the organization’s operations but also its customers’ finances. With a concrete mobile device management system, the interactions between an insider and an external party on the organization’s mobile devices can be observed and analyzed in real time to avoid any suspicious or malicious activity that could lead to fraud.

Increasing productivity 

Fintechs are reputable for prioritizing flexibility during work to ensure their employees are in the right state of mind to deliver at their best. The good part is, this can even be done better when the mobile devices allocated to each employee are managed to help them work when they should be working and take breaks when they need to refresh their minds. With a mobile device manager, work-life balance can be achieved seamlessly as employees give their best on both sides.

Enabling Enterprise Growth

A great mobile device management solution can enable businesses to circulate the best digital work tools or software to every employee with a single click from a central location. This means the company gets to leverage the results employees bring by working with the best tools from any part of the world without being limited by their physical locations. Everyone gets to be at their prime for the company’s growth.

Cybersecurity

The need for cybersecurity for fintechs can never be overemphasized. A mobile device manager can boost the security measures put in place to avoid external threats by cyberattackers or internal ones due to the ignorant use of mobile devices to create loopholes for external attacks. By managing your mobile devices, you can blacklist malicious apps, software, and web pages from being accessible on the device for the utmost protection of the data they carry.

A Contemporary Solution for The Forward-Thinking Fintech

Like the smart businesses would prefer a smart solution, SmartMDM remains every progressive fintech’s go-to mobile device manager with features that ensure data security while helping your employees become more productive with their work.

Sign up now and see how SmartMDM is every fintech’s mobile device companion.

Business operations have shed the old skin and taken a new shape, all thanks to the pandemic and new opportunities with technology, things no longer look like they were, especially since around 45% of the global workforce is now working remotely.

This model has come to stay, and one thing is certain, IT Managers need to be up and running to ensure they have their eyes on everything that happens with the dedicated mobile devices employees use remotely. But do they find this easy to achieve?

At least one in every ten IT managers has a headache when it comes to managing their mobile devices, but this doesn’t look like it will go another way soon, except if proactive steps are taken.

What Three Major Challenges Do IT Managers Face While Going About their Daily Tasks?

Data Security

Judiciously protecting organizational data should be a priority for any business. Data is crucial in making decisions, tracking progress, forecasting, and more. Most times, these pieces of data are stored and carried on mobile devices used by team members remotely or on-site; hence, protecting these pieces of critical data from a central place remains a Herculean task!

Compliance

Ensuring employees comply with the company’s policies while working away from the office is another challenge IT managers have sleepless nights about. Without a doubt, it is quite difficult to know what’s happening in a place without being there or having the means to get information about the event.

Employee Efficiency

Every organization prioritizes the expansion of its business and how to hit its set goals as quickly as possible. Still, all these can be held back by a single employee’s disposition to work and efficiency. Working remotely is flexible and comfortable; as such, employees’ efficiency level may drop drastically when there’s no means of accountability or management.

These don’t have to be your story anymore; you can stand out amongst other IT managers by doing things differently today. Learn more on how to be relieved from these recurring challenges and see how a simple solution can be the game changer for you as an IT manager.