The accessibility of software-as-a-service products is a double-edged sword. One hand, the average cloud offering is much easier to manage than the on-premises alternative, but on the other, users often sign up for applications without approval from the information technology organization.

Boulder, Colorado-based Alpin Inc. today launched a platform to combat this phenomenon, which can create security risks and unnecessary costs. It has become such a big issue that there’s even a term for cloud applications used without authorization: shadow IT. The startup hopes to mitigate the problem by enabling administrators to monitor all the different services accessed from the corporate network in one place.

Alpin can identify the cloud applications used throughout a company, as well determine as how employees interact with them. The platform provides visibility all the way down to what individual workers are doing in a given service, a level of granularity that has the potential to come in quite handy.

Alpin said administrators can use a built-in alerting system to receive notifications when a potential security risk is detected. The platform could, for example, be configured to raise the alarm if a worker uploads a sensitive document to a cloud service that they’re not cleared to use in such a way. Alpin also flags cases when a cloud application gets connected to a potentially sensitive system such as a user’s email client.

The other way the startup applies this usage information is by highlighting underutilized assets. Administrators can look for abandoned subscriptions that need to be canceled, as well as break down subscription fees to identify more elusive cost-cutting opportunities.

Alpin provides the ability to act upon the data directly from within its interface. The platform makes it possible to deprovision accounts and subscriptions, as well as outright blacklist a cloud application that doesn’t meet a company’s security standards. There’s also a “Lockdown” feature that enables administrators to block multiple services at once in exceptional scenarios.

Alpin’s feature set has won over several notable customers, including email delivery provider SendGrid Inc. and FullContact Inc., the company behind the contact management app of the same name. Additionally, the startup has raised over $1 million in seed funding from a consortium led by Denver-based Rockies Venture Club.

Image: Alpin