Shadow IT still global cloud issue, report finds
A new cloud computing report has revealed that shadow IT remains a key issue for organisations around the world.
Shadow IT usage refers to applications and services being used by employees without the knowledge or clearance of the IT department. This introduces a new range of concerns when it comes to data security and collaboration across different IT platforms.
The Cloud Adoption, Practices and Priorities report from the Cloud Security Alliance surveyed 200 IT and security professionals from organisations of different sizes across the globe. The key finding was that 72 per cent of respondents admitted that they did not know the number of shadow IT apps running within their company.
Another interesting trend identified in the study was that more and more decisions are being made in the boardroom rather than by the IT professionals; 61 per cent of respondents said that company executives now played a role in those decisions.
Despite the ever-present security concerns when it comes to the cloud, this is not stopping organisations adopting this technology, with 74 per cent saying they are continuing to adopt cloud services.
In terms of barriers to the cloud, along with security another key obstacle commonly cited is a lack of knowledge and experience on the part of IT and business managers – 34 per cent of respondents said this was to blame for their slow adoption.
Returning to the issue of having policies and procedures for managing cloud adoption, the report found that large enterprises have the most in place. Companies with more than 5,000 employees are more likely to have a cloud governance committee than those with under 5,000 employees (35 per cent versus 12 per cent), have a policy on acceptable cloud usage (61 per cent versus 45 per cent), and have a security awareness training programme (26 per cent versus 20 per cent).
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