The situation
The moment
Someone signs up for a new SaaS tool with a corporate card. A team wires an AI agent into a workflow. An employee pastes sensitive data into a chatbot to get a job done faster. None of it is malicious. All of it is invisible to the people accountable for risk.
The friction
What usually goes wrong
- Discovery happens too late — usually after an incident, an audit, or a breach.
- The response is a blanket "no", which just pushes usage further underground.
- AI moves faster than any review process built for traditional software.
- There's no living picture of what's actually in use, by whom, touching what data.
How Catalsy helps
Catalsy treats new tools and AI as events the moment signals appear — in spend, in your systems, in the way work and data flow. It enriches each signal with context, assesses what it means against your rules and the regulation that applies, and reinforces the right behaviour with the person involved, in the moment. Instead of policing after the fact, you meet people where they are — guide them to a compliant path, fast-track what's fine, escalate only what needs it.
Catalsy · detected automatically SSO + network
Unapproved AI tool in use — “WriteMagic AI”
Signal
12 employees signed in to a new AI tool this week.
Enriched
One session involved customer data · tool isn't on the approved list.
Assessed
Data-protection + AI-governance risk · needs review.
→ Action
Users nudged to an approved alternative · added to review queue.
What each team gets
Employees
A nudge in the moment, not a lecture later — and a safe way to get the job done.
Security & IT
Early visibility and a living inventory: what's in use, by whom, touching what data.
The business
Adoption without the underground, and AI governance that keeps pace with the tech.
FAQ
What counts as shadow IT or shadow AI?
Any software or AI system adopted and used without going through review or governance — from a SaaS subscription on a personal card to an AI agent wired into a workflow.
How does Catalsy discover it?
It watches for signals across the business — spend, systems, and how data and work flow — and treats new tools and AI as events to enrich and assess. (Detail shared with design partners.)
Why is shadow AI different from shadow IT?
AI is adopted faster, often informally, and can expose sensitive data or make consequential decisions — so it needs governance that operates in real time, not an annual review.
