Tackling Agent Sprawl Across the Enterprise
Atlassian, Friday, October 30th, 2026
Atlassian argues agent sprawl is an identity and accountability risk and recommends governing AI agents with central policies and visibility.
The post says agent sprawl differs from shadow IT because unapproved actors use an organization's data and permissions to take actions.
It cites Gartner projecting over 150,000 agents at the average Fortune 500 by 2028 with only 13% of organizations feeling they have proper governance, and OutSystems finding 94% worry about AI sprawl.
Consequences include data exposure, excess permissions, unclear ownership, unplanned cost and inconsistent outputs.
Its recommendation is to govern rather than block AI, with central guardrails, visibility into agent usage for cleanup and consolidation, and shared context so agents deliver accurate results.