policies may be resistant to change due to security or cultural concerns. Considering this, the first step is to connect with technology and security leaders to understand their environments, discuss pain points and implement a modern security and governance framework to combat shadow IT. After all, granting autonomy into technology management shouldn’t imply throwing in the towel or ignoring the issue. In fact, more visibility and communication will be necessary to make the strategy work. API security provider Wallarm recommends using a three-phase policy, which centers around discovering and identifying shadow IT, evaluating risks and usage and establishing continuous monitoring. Technology advisors also can grease the wheel by explaining how this shift benefits IT and security leaders. As Gartner stated in a post, “the CISO and purview of responsibility is shifting from being control owners to risk decision facilitators.” Spending less time fighting shadow IT will free more resources to focus on critical initiatives such as driving business transformation and implementing new ways of working – both of which are sorely needed. Of course, obtaining buy-in from IT is only half the battle. The next step involves building bridges with different business units and teams. This requires taking the time to understand how individuals and departments interact with technology and creating an environment where business users feel they can be honest about reporting the tools they are using daily. To get the ball rolling, technology leaders and advisors can set up pilot tests and communication channels with LOBs to discuss different technologies, observe how employees work and answer questions about IT oversight and monitoring technologies. As Rogers explained, this can be an effective way to evolve beyond command and control management and create trust. “Getting anything deployed in a big organization can take months or years of compliance checks, security ticketing and so on,” Rogers said. “I had a large company that took a different approach by creating committees with partnerships between IT and LOBs. They set up show and tells and knowledge sharing – things that were positive and drove alignment around the organization but were geared toward active participation.” At the end of the day, technology advisors have an opportunity to connect IT and business units and help organizations evolve their workflows for the AI era. By knocking down silos and starting conversations with LOBs, advisors can help transform shadow AI from a pain point into a strength, while building relationships and diversifying revenue streams. o 17 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2025 | CHANNELVISION
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