MSPNetworks Blog

IT administrators are pretty particular about what software is used on the networks that they manage. This is not because we have any vested interest in the software itself, it’s because of the inherent reliability of the software they manage. They’ve tested it, they manage it, they know it. When an organization starts dealing with employee-downloaded software--especially if there is no procedure in place to report additions to IT--they can quickly lose control over the network. 

The software that isn’t properly vetted (or even reported most of the time) is called shadow IT. Since it’s the IT administrator’s job to oversee the data security and overall effectiveness of your company’s technology deployments, shadow IT can present them with a bunch of risk.  IT administrators hate risk. Today, we’ll take you through the good and bad of shadow IT.

Shadow IT is Bad

Most of the people that work with a computer have been working with similar technology for a long time. While they aren’t IT experts, they know what software works best for them. That experience will often result in them downloading software that hasn’t been approved by their company’s IT department or outsourced IT service vendor. This software, while useful for the user, may be a major problem for an organization, for several reasons.

The main issue is that any software that is downloaded may come with adware, spyware, malware, vulnerabilities, and other nefarious code that can put a business at risk. Worse yet, that software isn’t known to your IT admin, keeping it from the routine maintenance it needs to keep it from being a vulnerability. If your business carries vulnerable software, it can create a breachable hole in your network. So, while you may not see continuous problems, risk is magnified. 

What are the risks? Here are a few:

• A lack of security - Without the visibility and control over network-attached resources, IT management becomes much more difficult. If there is a potential that a piece of software can put a hole in your network, you are compromising the network’s security.
• Problems with performance - If the tool that’s implemented doesn’t mesh with the system it’s installed on, the app’s performance--and thus the user’s--will be compromised.
• Compliance problems - If your organization needs to meet certain compliance standards, the presence of unmanaged software makes it almost impossible to meet said standards.
• Data loss - If IT management doesn’t know that a software is on the network, it won’t be covered by organizational backup strategies, meaning work completed using shadow IT apps won’t be backed up.

The minute you understand the risks, it becomes clear why IT admins typically don’t like shadow IT at all.

Can Shadow IT be Good?

Risky behavior can be a major problem for a business. It can also result in significant reward. According to a study conducted in 2019, there is a shift in the way that IT admins are looking at shadow IT. This is mainly the result of organizations looking to improve productivity and to use available capital more effectively. For the detrimental risk that shadow IT can bring a company, there is an opportunity to save time and cut costs.

The study, which included 1,000 IT professionals, showed that a whopping 77 percent believe that embracing shadow IT solutions can help a company innovate quicker than their direct competition. That’s not all.

• 49 percent said that shadow IT boosts productivity.
• 45 percent said that shadow IT helps promote employee engagement.
• 40 percent said that shadow IT helps promote adherence to IT security requirements.
• 40 percent said that shadow IT would help reduce employee turnover.

Effectively, two-fifths of IT admins said that shadow IT’s detriments could be ignored. That’s not to say that I know any IT administrator that would be totally okay with having unsupported applications on company-owned machines. Not one would deliberately put a gaping hole in their organization’s network to boost productivity. 

What they would promote is the use of shadow IT that is brought onto the network through employee-owned devices. This practice is being shown more leniency now more than ever. After all, IT admins can’t possibly be responsible for every piece of software brought onto the network by employees. They bring laptops, and tablets, and smartphones, and IoT devices, and with all those devices, there are bound to be programs that IT admins typically wouldn’t want on there, but would accept if it kept decision makers happy and productivity high.

If you would like to learn more about shadow IT, what constitutes shadow IT, or have any other software and maintenance questions, call our knowledgeable professionals today at (516) 403-9001.

When you look at the cloud service business model, it can be easy to wonder how it is so beneficial to businesses - or really, how it fiscally can be. After all, dollars to donuts, the monthly service charges most likely add up to less than a business would spend for another, comparable service. To understand how the cloud does this, it may help to look at something that often occurs in the office.

Let’s say, ordering lunch.

How the Cloud is Like a Lunch Order

Cost Efficiency

Let’s say you are at work, and you decide you want pizza for lunch, as do some of your coworkers. Now, you could each purchase a slice or two for $5, and everyone would be happy. However, if you bought an entire pizza pie for $15 by pooling your money, there’s a good chance that each person could get the same amount of pizza for a more affordable cost.

This is essentially how cloud services work. Because you are just storing your data, applications, or what have you on someone else’s computer, you pay them rent for the privilege, as well as to support their maintenance of the infrastructure required. Admittedly, this sounds like it would be more expensive than just purchasing and maintaining the infrastructure itself - but there’s a key difference with cloud services.

That difference is you often aren’t the only one using that infrastructure.

Just like multiple people pitching in for a pizza ultimately comes out to be less expensive than each person buying their slices individually, multiple businesses paying to support a cloud infrastructure provides each of them with a better deal.

Reduced Maintenance

This combination of leasing their share of the cloud and contributing to its upkeep also allows the business to avoid large, surprise costs.

Let’s say that, to continue the lunch metaphor, you decide to make your pizza one day, but the dough you bought at the grocery store is rancid. As a result, not only is your pizza no longer edible, you are out the money you spent on its ingredients. This is the same experience of a business that is managing an internal solution and encounters an issue with it. Now, outsourcing your cloud needs to a service provider is more like ordering a pizza out - if there is something wrong with it when it is delivered, it isn’t your responsibility to make it right - it’s the cloud provider’s/pizzeria’s.

Productivity

Finally, just like ordering a pizza, cloud services allow you to better utilize your time to accomplish more. Both making a pizza and (albeit on a much grander scale) maintaining an infrastructure can be time-intensive tasks, which means that either will prevent you from taking care of other matters. Turning to an outsourced resource, like a pizzeria or a cloud provider, means that this time is freed up… which leaves you available to carry out other tasks that could help generate revenue. Furthermore, you will also have more space to be productive, as both can be remotely accomplished and delivered to your location, eliminating the need for bulky (and potentially expensive) pizza ovens/servers.

Do cloud services sound like an appetizing option for your business? Reach out to the professionals at MSPNetworks to learn more! Give us a call at (516) 403-9001.

The cloud is such an important part of today’s business environment that most organizations use it to some extent, even if it’s just for basic storage needs. However, the cloud needs to be properly maintained, starting with the way you secure your cloud services. Take a moment to ask yourself if your cloud--whether it’s hosted on-site or by a provider--is safe and secure.

Here is a list of four major issues that many organizations have regarding their cloud security.

End-to-End Encryption
To protect data on your network, the most effective method is to encrypt it. Encryption jumbles the data, making it difficult for hackers and other malicious entities to read the data unless they have also stolen an encryption key to decrypt the files. Encryption is there to put the user’s mind at ease, as it provides the knowledge that even in a worst-case scenario, your data is safe.

Physical Security Measures
If you don’t host your data on-site, you need to make sure that the data center you use is protected against not just digital intruders, but invaders who would use physical access to infiltrate the systems. You should have some combination of armed security patrols, biometric authentication procedures, and monitoring to keep intruders out. If you host in-house, you need to consider many of these same solutions. You should always have your servers being monitored, while being stored in the most secure locations possible.

Compliance Regulations
Various industries are subject to specific compliance laws that need to be adhered to, lest they face fines that could cripple even the soundest budget. For example, any business that uses health records to any extent is subject to HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This means that they must take specific measures to protect any of this information or face steep fines.

Standard (Scalable) Security Measures
The same security measures you want to use in-house should also be protecting your cloud-based infrastructure. These measures include antivirus, firewalls, a spam blocker, and content filter. All of these measures are implemented to keep your cloud solution as safe as can be from any threats bold enough to attack, whether they are internal or external. An enterprise-level Unified Threat Management solution is critical to the success of this endeavor, and it’s the best way to make sure your business’ assets remain secured.

MSPNetworks can help your business keep its cloud resources secure. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.