What should IT leaders do when employees adopt AI tools faster than their organization can evaluate or approve them?
In this episode of AI at Work, I speak with Hemant Sahani, Vice President of Product Management for Workspace ONE at Omnissa, about the rapid growth of unsanctioned AI applications across the digital workplace.
Omnissa’s State of Digital Workspace 2026 research found that workplace use of AI assistant applications grew by nearly 1000% during 2025. Hemant describes this period as AI’s iPhone moment, with employees choosing the tools that help them work faster instead of waiting for an official corporate rollout.
We discuss why blocking every unapproved application can leave IT blind to what employees need. Hemant explains how observability can reveal where people are finding value, why approved tools may be falling short and which applications deserve a proper security, legal and procurement review.
Our conversation also examines Omnissa’s vision for the autonomous workspace. Hemant imagines an environment that can configure, secure and repair itself while identifying digital experience problems before employees need to raise a support ticket.
We also consider how AI is changing the responsibilities of enterprise IT. As device management, security and employee experience converge, IT teams increasingly need data skills, commercial awareness and closer relationships with HR, finance, security and legal teams.
Could shadow AI become a valuable source of workforce intelligence, and how should organizations balance employee freedom with their responsibility to protect company and customer data? Please share your thoughts with me.