Shadow AI: Visibility, Risk & Safe Adoption
Your staff are already using AI. The only question is whether you can see it. We help you discover which AI tools are actually in use, risk-score them against your data, and establish practical governance that keeps the productivity without the exposure.
The challenge
Your staff are already using AI - the only question is whether you can see it. Employees paste client data, personal information and intellectual property into free public AI tools to get their work done faster. The productivity is real; so is the data leakage, and free-tier prompts can be retained, used for training, and in documented cases reconstructed by third parties.
What the AI does
- •Discovers which AI tools are actually in use across your organisation, via firewall, endpoint and browser analysis
- •Risk-scores each tool against what data is flowing into it
- •Establishes a practical Acceptable Use Policy that channels demand to safe, approved tools rather than banning everything
- •Provides governed alternatives so staff keep the productivity without the exposure
In practice
The HR discovery: a first audit finds CVs and salary details being pasted into a free AI tool to "tidy up" job descriptions - well-intentioned, productive, and a data breach waiting to be reportable.
The quiet power user: one analyst has built half their workflow on an unapproved AI tool. The answer is not discipline - it is recognising the demand and providing a governed equivalent before the habit spreads unmanaged.
The board question: "are we exposed?" gets a precise answer: which tools, which data, which users, ranked by risk, with a costed plan to keep the productivity and remove the exposure.
Evidenced results
Note: Blanket bans fail - staff route around them on personal devices. The effective pattern is visibility first, then governed provision of the capability people clearly want.
How it's delivered
Service pathway: Advisory
A fixed-scope Shadow AI Assessment: discovery across your network and endpoints, a risk-scored tool inventory, board-ready findings, and a pragmatic policy and approved-tool roadmap. Repeatable quarterly or annually as your AI usage evolves.
The assessment journey
Discover
Network, endpoint and browser-level discovery of actual AI tool usage across the organisation - no reliance on self-reporting.
Assess
Each tool risk-scored against the data flowing into it; findings presented in a clear, board-ready report.
Govern
Practical acceptable use policy, an approved-tool pathway, staff guidance, and a quarterly re-scan cadence.
Frequently asked questions
Find out what AI tools your staff are actually using
Take our free AI Readiness Score to assess your governance maturity, or book a Shadow AI Assessment to get precise visibility and a pragmatic policy.