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If you’re an IT professional working at a small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME), there’s about a 90% chance you’re worried about shadow IT. (Make that closer to 100%, since you clicked on this blog.)
And if you feel like it’s getting worse, you’re not crazy. Several factors are making shadow IT more common, from the average employee becoming more digitally savvy to a diversifying wealth of cloud tools available, all of which are incredibly easy for the average user to sign up for. As economic pressures and business competition push us to do more, faster, it’s no surprise when employees use everything that’s available to them — whether it’s officially sanctioned or not.
As you likely know, shadow IT poses significant risk, regardless of an employee’s intentions. And the longer you leave it, the more the problem compounds.
It’s rather anxiety-inducing.
Fortunately, though, there’s a way to get shadow IT to work to your advantage. This blog will walk you through how.
Note: Unless otherwise cited, all data cited in this blog is sourced from JumpCloud’s 2025 SME IT Trends Report: Simplifying IT in the Fast Lane of Change.
Shadow IT Is Rampant — and Still On the Rise
First, let’s level set: shadow IT is no joke. It has become the second-most common cyberattack vector, following phishing attacks. In fact, shadow IT is linked to 37% of cyberattacks against SMEs.
More than half of SMEs have discovered shadow IT in their environments. The majority (60%) suspect that employees are using six or more shadow resources.
So, why aren’t IT professionals doing more to stop it?
As it turns out, vanquishing shadow IT is easier said than done. When we asked SME IT professionals why they didn’t address shadow IT, 39% said that users move too quickly for them to keep up, and 38% said that they didn’t have the visibility to discover all the shadow resources in use. Those are tough challenges to go head-to-head with.
But Shadow IT Is Also a Learning Opportunity
We’ve established that shadow IT is bad.
But...
It can also represent an opportunity to learn and improve.
Shadow IT is a window into some pretty important insights. It shows you what employees need to get work done. How they prefer to work. Which tools they wish the company provided. Which tools the company does provide that aren’t sufficient. Knowledge gaps (do users not realize that we already have a tool for that?). What’s faster. What’s better. What’s working and what isn’t.
Rather than scolding, banning, and moving on when you discover an instance of shadow IT, consider it a window into unmet organizational needs. These are insights into where to focus your efforts in reducing shadow IT as well as where you can power better productivity, efficiency, and user satisfaction.
How to Grow from Shadow IT
Here’s how to leverage discovered shadow IT as an opportunity to improve.
1. Identify and document unmet user needs.
There are many ways to find shadow IT. SaaS discovery tools are the most systematic and reliable, but even manual checks can help uncover shadow resources.
When you find a shadow resource, document it, and work with users to understand why they use it. Their answers can help you understand what your company is missing in its current toolset. If the company does offer an adequate alternative that they didn’t know about, this reveals a communication gap. The good news is that these are easy to fix with an email, memo, or quick training session.
Document shadow IT instances and their underlying reasoning as you discover them. Over time, this will help you identify patterns, so you can address shadow IT at a systemic level rather than only by individual instance as it crops up.
2. Address these needs collaboratively.
When we asked SME IT professionals why they think employees use shadow IT, they reported the six following reasons:
- To make their jobs easier (54%)
- To be more productive (51%)
- To test out new technology (45%)
- To gain functionality that authorized tools don’t offer (43%)
- Because the procurement process for new apps takes too long (36%)
- Existing processes for adding authorized applications are onerous (32%)
For the most part, these reasons can be boiled down to three underlying problems:
a) Your organization doesn’t offer what your users need.
In these cases, you’ll need to get to the root of the problem by probing users: what do they like about the shadow resource they’re using? What could they not live without?
b) Your organization does offer something, but users are interested in an alternative.
If users aren’t satisfied with a current process or solution, consult with them to find out why. Often, users aren’t aware of everything an existing tool can do (or even that a tool exists!), and some additional training can help them use tools already in place to solve their problems. In other cases, document unmet needs so you can find the right tool to meet it.
c) Users struggle to follow established procedures for procuring and using approved resources.
These cases can be helpful insights into which processes and tools that need improvement.
As you look for solutions, consult with users. Make sure options you’re considering would work for them — because if they won’t, it won’t take long for users to revert back to shadow IT.
Of course, not every case of shadow IT can be solved immediately, in the most ideal way possible. Factors out of your control, like budget, security, compliance, competing priorities, and compatibility with your current suite can influence your options. Often, it can help to come up with an interim solution while you work on looking for a more permanent one. These interim solutions should still account for what users can tolerate, so make sure you keep the solution evaluation process collaborative with them.
3. Build a working relationship with your users when it comes to shadow IT management.
In general, you should strive to maintain an open stream of communication with users when it comes to resource usage. Listen to their needs, and prioritize finding alternative resources when possible.
In addition, you should make sure you have user-friendly processes in place for requesting tools.Over one-third of SME IT professionals attributed shadow IT to long procurement processes, which means that streamlining the approval and procurement process can help prevent shadow IT. While not every part of the procurement process will likely fall under IT’s direct control, consider optimizing for:
- Speed: Look for ways to expedite approval processes where possible. Try starting with low-cost or low-risk tools.
- Automation: Automation is a great way to speed up processes and make them easier for both users and your IT team to follow.
- Flexibility: Demonstrate that you’re open to requests and working with users to alternatives to what currently exists. This will encourage users to follow the procurement process rather than sidestep it.
- Clarity: Make the process easy to understand, reduce unnecessary steps, and explain tool restrictions.
- Transparency: Show users where their requests are in the process. When you can’t accommodate a need, explain why, and work with them to find an alternative.
- Cross-team collaboration: Work closely with procurement, finance, and legal teams to align goals, and treat requests as a collaboration between your users and IT teams.
Over time, a collaborative approach and user-friendly processes will build a relationship of trust and transparency between your users and IT team. Foster these sentiments by continuing to check in on shadow IT with a solution-oriented approach, and treat instances of shadow IT as opportunities to learn and improve.
Use Security Investments to Manage Shadow IT
Organizations are investing heavily in cybersecurity to address these growing risks. Over three-quarters (77%) of SME IT professionals expect their IT budget to increase over the next 12 months, and the top IT spending category is tools and services.
SaaS management and discovery tools are becoming critical investments for mitigating the rise in shadow IT. With a tool that can reliably detect shadow IT as it arises, you can systematically reduce it in your environment. And when you combine SaaS discovery with the tactics above, you can leverage shadow IT to your advantage by using it as a way to prevent, detect, and address unsanctioned IT.
Casting IT Into the Shadows
What you can’t see CAN hurt you when it comes to shadow IT. Learn six key shadow IT risks and how to address them proactively.
More Data from SME IT Professionals
The stats cited in this blog represent just a few of the insights we collected in our latest report, 2025 SME IT Trends Report: Simplifying IT in the Fast Lane of Change. Download the free report to learn how IT professionals like you are approaching things like budget, security, AI, and more.
