Almost 400 Cloud Apps in Every Enterprise

By Krishna Narayanaswamy, Chief Scientist at Netskope On average, there are 397 cloud apps running in enterprises today. This is one of the findings in the second quarterly Netskope Cloud Report, an account of trends on cloud app adoption and usage. What makes this number interesting is that it’s about 10x the number that IT professionals estimate. Adding to the intrigue, 77 percent of those apps aren’t enterprise-ready based on the Netskope Cloud Confidence Index^TM, an objective measure of cloud apps’ security, auditability, and business continuity adapted from Cloud Security Alliance guidance.

The thing that really strikes us is the average number of cloud apps per category in each enterprise. The largest number is Marketing, with 51. That’s not that surprising, though. Our own startup marketing department uses almost that many apps. The second highest was more concerning, though: HR, with 35. While HR is a broad category, with specific apps for benefits, salary, performance, time-tracking, and more, the number still raises security and compliance questions. With that many apps, IT professionals are concerned about whether they have the appropriate controls in place to protect sensitive data like personally-identifiable information.

Beyond the apps themselves, where the real risks lie is in the usage of cloud apps. The report tracks the most common activities in cloud apps – edit, view, download, post, and share. These activities are especially telling when juxtaposed against policy violations, activities concerning data classified as “sensitive” or “confidential,” and data leakage incidents.

Get the full Netskope cloud report here.