Cisco: Shadow IT use up dramatically in last six months

Dive Brief:

Shadow IT in enterprises is up almost 70% from just six months ago, according to Cisco.
Cisco’s newest shadow IT research found that “employees route around corporate networks to a startling extent, posing risks for security and data governance,” according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Cisco said while CIOs estimate their organizations use an average of 91 cloud computing services, the true number averages around 1,120.

Dive Insight:

Cisco gathered the data by “running software that tracked activity on networking and security devices it sold to corporate customers,” according to the WSJ.

Not all analysts agree with Cisco’s findings. Andras Cser, an analyst at Forrester Research, said his average shadow IT estimates are closer to 30% to 40%.

Many analysts do agree, however, that shadow IT is an issue for many companies, and that few CIOs or corporate technology departments have a good idea of just how big the problem is.

Use of shadow IT comes with potential risks to company and/or customer data. In coordination with its new data, Cisco also launched a new offering, called Cloud Consumption as a Service. The service is designed to help IT departments detect usage of cloud services within their respective companies.