Build a Cloud Strategy and Roadmap to Keep Your Data Securely Accessible in the 21st Century

Organizations are demanding access to data and services anytime from anywhere on any device. Users really only require a device with a browser to access many enterprise applications or services from anywhere or anytime. Organizations are rapidly developing applications to enable their employees, customers and partners to access their data while on the go.

However, this rapid transition is giving CIOs and CISOs a real headache because they must maintain a secure systems development lifecycle process, or risk ending up on the front page of the Washington Post or receiving a failed compliance report. CIOs and CISOs are dealing with four main business challenges with this transition; cost reduction, reduced morale, increased governance and legal complexity, and increased security and privacy risks.

Increased Cost Reductions Challenge

CIOs and CISOs will have to work closely with their CFOs to move technology spending from CAPEX to OPEX. Organization’s infrastructure assets are depreciating rapidly and are underutilized. Cloud services will enable the 21st century organizations to outsource many business functions. This will make the most of organization’s IT infrastructure someone else’s problem. These cloud services will make it easier to predict cost, and will reduce the overall cost of IT. However, IT managers we need to developed a new set of IT lifecycle planning and modeling tools for this new services model.

Increased Morale Challenge

The 21st Century IT organization will significantly decrease the number of servers and staff required to accommodate this new services model. CIOs, CISOs and IT managers who have climbed up the ranks from a technology path, will struggle with this change. Cloud services will take away the need for technology managers and drive the organization to move towards business and program managers, allowing the business to focus on business and not IT. CIOs and CISOs will need to be more strategically-focused rather than technology-focused. IT management and staff will need to develop an entirely new set of skills, and this must be taken into account when transitioning to cloud services.

Increased Governance and Legal Complexity Challenge

Organizations will need to rethink governance and legal processes for managing, delivering, and consuming IT services. Organizations will not know where their data physically resides because cloud services will decouple data access from data storage. A cloud service vendor may state that your data is stored on US servers; however, they may be located in Europe, India or China. Your organization will be exposed to the data regulations associated with where your data is physically stored. Without knowing it, you may be breaking the law. Legal and risk management departments will need to develop standards to ensure security, privacy, SLAs, and compliance are maintained.

Increased Security and Privacy Risks Challenge

The cloud services environment will present a unique set of security challenges. These challenges will drive us to rethink security and privacy from the ground up, to re-architect applications, networks and data centers in a way that closes existing gaps and not open new ones. The architecture, potential scale, reliance on networking, outsourcing, and shared resources aspects of the cloud services environment, makes it a must to reexamine current security controls. CIOs and CISOs will need to pay close attention to developing new security controls in the cloud or they will put their organizations at extreme risk.

InfusionPoints Can Help

Cloud services benefits are too compelling to ignore. This transition into cloud services will require a short and long term strategy and roadmap to ease these challenges. With a strategic cloud services plan and architecture, these services will be more secure, compliant, improve IT staff morale and reduce cost. Maybe it's time to think more about the potential benefits of the cloud and not just about all that can go wrong. InfusionPoints can help shape your cloud services strategy and roadmap to ease these challenges.