Tackling the challenges of shadow communications

What is shadow IT?

The term shadow IT refers to the systems and solutions that are used inside an organization without a specific approval. One of the most common examples of shadow IT is “shadow communications” that is often used to describe employees using their private life social media applications for collaboration and communication within their team or a project group.

Shadow IT introduces shadow risks. There are many risks in using shadow IT systems and non-business social media apps for the work purposes. The use of the shadow comms applications can result in accidental leak or loss of confidential company data as the solutions that are created for consumers tend not to fulfil the data protection requirements of enterprises. In addition, when it comes to the business usage of informal platforms, the ownership of the data and possibilities to moderate the discussions are problematic.

How to respond to shadow communication?

Replace the shadow communication with enterprise ready communication tools

The first thing to consider when you notice that your employees are using their non-business messaging apps and collaboration spaces for work should be: does your organization offer these types of tools to your employees? Clearly, there’s a need for them and it’s unlikely this will change in the future as more and more of the workforce will be Millenials who crave sufficient technology and communication in their workplaces.

Figuring out the key use cases for the collaboration and comms apps that your employees hope to use in their daily work is a great way to start the process of mapping which solutions are you missing.

During your research you might also notice that your organization is actually offering collaboration and comms tools, but the employees are not satisfied with the solutions available. Find out why are your employees not using these existing tools; are they outdated or should you invest in a bit of internal marketing to make your employees aware of the offering? In case the tools that are already in place have all the functionalities needed, educate your employees about the benefits that the business tools have over the private social media tools.

Modern business solutions should have equally as intuitive look and feel as the consumer solutions and, on top of this, integrate with your other business solutions such as your file storage and people directory.

Ensure an adequate level of security and control

In case you will notice that you’ll need to introduce a new solution to your company, there are many things to consider when getting started with this type of a project. When it comes to tackling the problems caused by shadow IT, make sure that the solution you choose is enterprise ready and offers you at least:

• Easy onboarding and offboarding processes that ensure that if your employee leaves the company, the content they have created with the tool will not be lost
  
  
• An adequate level of admin controls and granular access controls that enable different user roles and access rights
  
  
• Secure, closed social platform that integrates with your business tools
  

At Happeo, we hope to make your working environment more productive than ever. Book a personalized demo and speak with one of our team members about enterprise intranet solutions today.

Shadow communication refers to the unauthorised use of private social media applications and messaging platforms by employees to collaborate and discuss work projects. It is a specific branch of shadow IT, which covers any systems, software, or solutions used within an organisation without official approval from the IT department. This trend typically occurs because there is a genuine, unfulfilled need for quick and easy communication tools among staff members.

As the workforce evolves to include more millennials, the demand for modern, intuitive technology in the workplace naturally increases. When organisations fail to provide these tools, or if the existing systems are outdated and difficult to use, employees will naturally default to the consumer-grade applications they already use in their daily personal lives. This creates a disconnect between official corporate channels and actual day-to-day employee collaboration.

To address this, organisations must investigate why their staff are bypassing official channels. It might be that the company does not offer any collaborative platforms, or perhaps employees simply do not know they exist. Identifying these gaps is the first step towards replacing unauthorised platforms with secure, enterprise-ready alternatives that employees actually enjoy using, matching the intuitive feel of consumer apps while maintaining corporate oversight.

Using unauthorised consumer messaging applications and social media platforms for business purposes introduces significant security risks to an organisation. Because these tools are designed for general consumers rather than businesses, they usually do not meet the stringent data protection and compliance requirements that modern enterprises demand. This lack of compliance can easily result in the accidental leak or permanent loss of highly confidential company data.

Another major issue with shadow communication is the lack of data ownership and administrative oversight. When employees use private accounts on non-business platforms to conduct work, the organisation has no control over the conversations or the information shared. It becomes incredibly difficult to moderate discussions, manage intellectual property, or ensure that sensitive business secrets are not being saved onto personal devices outside the company’s secure network.

Furthermore, consumer applications lack the essential administrative features required to manage user access securely. For instance, without proper onboarding and offboarding processes, a former employee who has left the organisation might retain access to historic group chats and shared files. Enterprise-ready tools solve this by offering granular access controls and ensuring that all company data remains secure and retrievable within a closed, managed environment, even after a team member departs.

To successfully transition employees away from unauthorised messaging apps, organisations must first understand their staff’s specific communication needs. Companies should research the exact use cases for which employees are currently using private social media. If the organisation already has approved collaboration tools in place, managers need to discover why staff are ignoring them, whether due to a lack of awareness or because the software is outdated.

If existing tools are fully functional but underused, organisations should invest in internal marketing campaigns to educate employees on the benefits of using secure business systems over private apps. It is crucial to highlight that modern enterprise solutions can offer the same intuitive look and feel as consumer apps, whilst seamlessly integrating with existing corporate directories, file storage systems, and daily work processes to make tasks easier.

When introducing a new enterprise-ready solution to replace shadow tools, organisations must ensure it provides robust security and control. The chosen platform needs to offer straightforward onboarding and offboarding to prevent data loss when employees leave, alongside granular administrative controls for different user roles. By providing a secure, closed social platform that integrates with existing systems, companies can boost productivity without compromising on security.