What is Shadow IT? Challenges and risks

A phenomenon in full explosion

The digital transformation of businesses, accelerated in particular by the health crisis, has upset internal technological uses. From the first lockdown in 2020, many employees, left to themselves, adopted new digital tools to maintain collaboration, often without the approval of their IT department.

According to the 5th edition of Threat Report from the publisher Netskope, 97% of cloud applications used in business today fall under Shadow IT.

This phenomenon, known as Shadow IT, represents a major challenge for large French companies. It refers to the use of digital applications, software, or tools without the approval or control of the IT department.

Why such recourse? Because rapid digitalization, hybrid work, and the quest for efficiency encourage employees to turn to more agile and efficient solutions, sometimes at the expense of the security and consistency of information systems.

The major risks of Shadow IT for large companies

In an environment where the cybersecurity And the RGPD compliance are absolute imperatives, Shadow IT represents a serious threat:

• Sensitive data leaks : by using unverified tools, employees unwittingly expose strategic company information.
  
  
• Regulatory non-compliance : these practices endanger compliance with regulations such as the RGPD or the future European AI Act.
  
  
• Expanded attack surface : every unapproved tool becomes a potential gateway for cyberattacks.
  
  
• Loss of control : the IT department is losing visibility on the flow of information and the tools used on a daily basis.
  
  

The case of AI tools: an acceleration of the phenomenon

With the explosion of generative artificial intelligence, employees are integrating more and moreexternal AI tools (e.g. chatbots, writing assistants, transcription tools) without supervision. However, many of these solutions are hosted outside the EU, Non-sovereign, and present major privacy risks.

That makes the rapid adoption of sovereign solutions not only necessary, but also strategic for major French groups.

Why large groups should adopt sovereign AIs

Digital sovereignty is now an issue of competitiveness as well as security. Adopt a Sovereign French AI as Seedext allows you to:

• Garder control over the data (with encrypted data, hosted in France via Azure Blue or Numspot).
  
  
• Guarantee the regulatory compliance (RGPD, CNIL, principles of the AI Act).
  
  
• Reduce the dependence on extra-European solutions.
  
  
• Restore the user trust and the IT department by offering a secure, ergonomic and customizable solution.
  
  

Seedext: the sovereign alternative to Shadow IT

At Seedext, we have designed a solution of automatic note taking And of IA meeting report specifically designed for the challenges of large groups.

Our platform integrates into your existing environments (Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, etc.) while respecting the most stringent security standards:

• AES 256 encryption, TLS 1.3, siloed databases per customer
  
  
• Accommodation in France, via Azure or Numspot, in full compliance with the RGPD
  
  
• Access managed via Microsoft Graph, isolated environments per customer
  
  
• Open-source AI with Mistral, optimized to guarantee safety and performance
  
  
• Local support team for a personalized support

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In terms of data ownership, Seedext offers a sovereign and secure alternative. Unlike public solutions, our platform allows:

• One automatic transcription (STT) directly integrated and secure.
  
  
• La smart summary generation via LLM, without data transfer outside our servers in France
• The use of a private chatbot, hosted in France, to interact confidentially with the content of meetings.
  

FOCUS: Your data is safe, your exchanges protected

Seedext allows large companies to avoid the Shadow IT trap by offering an ergonomic, sovereign solution that is validated by CIOs. No need for employees to look elsewhere: you provide them with a reliable, integrated, and compliant tool from the start.

Shadow IT is not just a technical detail — it is a strategic risk for large groups. By adopting sovereign solutions like Seedext, you protect your data, gain compliance, and restore control over your digital ecosystem.