Shadow IT? not the only shadow we have
There is a new much longer shadow cast over organizations’ today that needs to be reflected much when considering workplace strategy.

Back in the day corporate IT pretty much controlled everything that moved in our working lives — hardware, applications and rules.
Over time this stake has shifted to a world where ownership of IT is now incredibly varied, and widely distributed across business owners’ individuals’ — workers and customers.
Of course, corporate IT still maintains a large proportion of control for the feeding and watering of critical systems, and aspects of security, software development and platform lifecycle management. And depending on the sector, the devolution of IT power bounces between corporate insourced, divested local teams and outsourced models.
This shifting sand was of course driven by the consumer led devices entering the workplace, operational costs of delivering IT, and the changing dynamic of the workforce moving to the always on environment.
BYOD was borne and spawned all flavors of Bring Your Own something or other. This was done to control our use of tools and platforms to reduce corporate risk, control policy and improve productivity. By and large a successful hurdle dealt with by the IT guys.
Yet when one considers the challenges of the digital organization the importance of managing Shadow IT is now over-shadowed (excuse the pun) by the Talent Shadow or Smart Shadow.
BYOD was all about concern about corporate IP ownership and security vulnerabilities from malware with using personal devices and apps. There is now a race on to capture the ‘smartness’ of an organization, and use it as a corporate tool more than ever before. Predicated of course that people are the most important fuel of the digital organization.
This phenomenon is all about how an organization can see into the shadows of their workers’ to ensure all of the ideas, conversations and thoughts are not being lost.
This is not suggesting a level of technological intrusion into what we are saying or even thinking, but a view that having a ‘methodology’ to let ideas grow and increase the smart level.
Hackathons, design sprints, gamified initiatives, open source garages and collaborative channels are all in the cook book of course, and hugely successful as well. Workplaces are now designed from a range of styles that bring people together into ‘collision areas’ where they arrive to pick up coffee, printed material and lunch, and then engage in open and transparent dialog.
Dwell time is being attacked on all fronts to reduce lost productivity minute and to improve wellness and outcome. All in the name of ‘doing things smarter’ as humans need to do. Going faster, as humans do.
And it is speed that on one hand is increasing the shadows cast each day. People need to get on with their day and remove barriers as quickly as possible to keep up.
Customers, managers and colleagues drive speed in their eyes and the workplace “had better play ball with me, or I’m going to go further into the shadows.”
This new shadow as I call it is not something to be controlled by corporate policy and code on our smartphones.
Just like the view that 90% of data being created by sensors that surround our working and home lives is going un-noticed, there is a similar gulf in capturing the human ‘smartness’. Lost moments people call them. Is IoT the answer? Partly.
Organizations’ looking at workplace strategy therefore, must not just focus on the traditional BYO policies and workplace design, but also ask themselves this question.
“Does my workplace encourage the raw talent and inspiration I have in my people to come to the surface so I foster benefit to all concerned.”
Building a open platform that you can plug into whether it is your consumer life, team design thinking sprints, corporate talent and well being policy and real estate programmes, should be on the digital agenda.
It is complicated no doubt, but the opportunity that sits in the shadows of where you work could be worth the look see.
