The Apps You Don’t Know About Are Your Biggest Blind Spot
Shadow IT is any app, cloud service, device or AI tool your employees use without IT’s knowledge: a personal Dropbox for client files, a free file converter, an unapproved chatbot pasted full of customer data, a forgotten SaaS subscription still billing the company card. Each one is a door you can’t lock because you don’t know it exists.
What Simplitfy Does
- Discover: identify the cloud apps, browser extensions, OAuth connections and AI tools in use across your organization
- Assess: rate each one for security, compliance and data-handling risk
- Decide: approve, replace with a secure alternative, or block
- Control: enforce policies with web filtering, Microsoft 365 app controls and device management
- Educate: give your team approved tools and clear, simple guidance
AI Tools Are the New Shadow IT
Employees adopt AI assistants faster than policies can keep up, and sensitive data can end up in tools you don’t control. We help you put an AI acceptable-use policy in place and provide approved, secure alternatives such as Microsoft Copilot configured with the right data permissions.
Lower Risk, Lower Cost
Shadow IT reviews regularly uncover duplicate subscriptions and forgotten accounts, so they often pay for themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is shadow IT?
Shadow IT is any software, cloud service, device or AI tool used inside a business without IT approval or oversight. It creates security, compliance and cost risks because it isn't managed or protected.
How do you find shadow IT?
We review cloud sign-ins, OAuth app consents, network and web filtering logs, device inventories and expense data to build a picture of what is actually in use.
Last updated November 2026