The new WalkMe for Shadow AI comes at an opportune time as companies try to find a balance between benefitting from the many advantages of having employees use AI and mitigating its risk for the company.
The Futurum Group was able to get a demo of WalkMe for Shadow AI that allowed us to see and assess its interface and capabilities.
Increased AI Usage Spurred the Need for WalkMe for Shadow AI
Employees are certainly experimenting with many types of AI. The hype around generative AI is getting people excited about its opportunities, but lack of education about the potential for employees to unknowingly mishandle company data or use content that was AI-generated and inaccurate may create data and IT security risks.
“We launched this new capability because of the prevalence of AI usage right now, and the fact that the risks are not completely known. We wanted to do what we could to support our customers as they navigate this uncertainty with these additional views and capabilities,” says Daniel Chechik, WalkMe chief information security officer (CISO).
According to Arik Abel, director of product marketing at WalkMe, “Our customers are finding that 20%-40% of employees are using publicly available generative AI technologies to get work done. One customer noted their sales organizations were using ChatGPT more than the robust AI capabilities they’d invested in in their sales CRM. This fast pace of usage reminds us of when IT was forced to rapidly respond to the disruption caused by end user adoption of the iPhone or consumer cloud services like Google Drive. There is no playbook here, so we are trying to help our customers allow this access, but with responsibility.”
Creating a View into How AI is Being Used Offers Risk Mitigation
Similar to other WalkMe solutions, Shadow AI gives visibility into AI app usage and can be seen within WalkMe Discovery. Companies will be able to see who is using AI, what type they are using, and how they are using it. This can help companies support required compliance and policy acceptance, block proprietary company data from being compromised, and prevent the sharing of data that may not be accurate.
Abel adds, “Customers have been able to reduce compliance risk by up to 30% so far, simply by using digital adoption capabilities to govern access and promote the appropriate company-provided AI capabilities.”
Guardrails, Not Roadblocks
From employees’ point of view, these tools are meant to support their use of AI technologies for all the benefits that have been well laid out – efficiency, productivity, and more time to focus on higher-level tasks.
WalkMe for Shadow AI is designed with the intent not to block or ban access (although that can be done), but to help employees learn the risks involved and to help shape future behaviors. Education in data security and governance, and the ability to redirect to approved company resources, are top goals. From a user experience perspective, this happens right in the flow of work, a proactive approach against risk that give employees guidance and in-the-moment coaching when they need it.
“Even if you block the technologies, you still want to provide a message to educate the user on why you did it and what they can do to accomplish their objectives. This helps build institutional knowledge and also create behavioral change in line with best practices,” says Chechik.
An important point to keep in mind is that AI adoption should not just be about managing unsanctioned AI usage. Enterprise organizations are investing heavily in introducing company-owned generative and conversational AI capabilities to support how they deliver and sell products, manage employees, and operate their business. The WalkMe digital adoption platform has great value in ensuring that companies get their return on investment from AI solutions by driving employee proficiency and trust in the flow of work.
WalkMe for Shadow AI Is Available Within the WalkMe Discovery Environment
WalkMe for Shadow AI is now available within WalkMe Discovery. According to WalkMe, it is tracking close to 1,000 generative AI applications and that number is expected to grow. Customers can create their own individualized use cases based on their own needs, configuring and publishing guidance with no additional WalkMe system configurations. This allows for simple setup and administration, which can be easily updated and modified as new generative AI tools and sites are discovered.
Shadow AI usage can be as dangerous as the use and development of unapproved and unmonitored applications, processes, and workflows, because it may introduce additional IT and data security risks, while also unintentionally reinforcing the popular, though incorrect, message that open generative AI tools are safe to use within an enterprise environment without oversight. Companies that are unaware of employee use of generative AI tools are opening themselves up not only to security risks, but also to business risks that can directly impact customers, partners, and the organization’s core operations.
Perhaps even more important than the ability to block unauthorized generative AI tools is the ability to provide education and guidance regarding how generative AI works, its power and limitations, and proper tools and use cases. As generative AI is still in its infancy, in terms of commercial, enterprise use, more education and training delivered “in the moment” is a positive step in the journey to enable safe and responsible generative AI use.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.
She brings more than 20 years of experience in technology research and marketing; prior to her current role, she was a Research Analyst at Omdia, authoring market and ecosystem reports on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and User Interface technologies. Sherril was previously Manager of Market Research at Intrado Life and Safety, providing competitive analysis and intelligence, business development support, and analyst relations.
Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.
