CIO OPINION
Establishing the flow of information
The third step in the process of simplifying the management of your cloud environments is to now go deeper to understand the flow of data around the business and look externally to consider necessary data flow to customers and other stakeholders . Look at access controls and to what degree systems are currently integrated – or not . Most likely , it ’ ll be the latter . To reach the end goal of simplification , you need to build an end-to-end architecture that can monitor , detect , remediate and measure compliance across the stack . Individual tooling that covers just one part of that will only continue to serve as a headache for the business as the integration of that data with other tools will require more manual heavy lifting .
Create the roadmap
Now that you have complete visibility of system architecture , an understanding of business goals and how the current stack may or may not be aligned with that , and where the gaps , overlaps or bottlenecks may be – the roadmap should begin .
This is the stage to plan out how to reduce the organization ’ s risk posture over time and recognize that this will be a continuous process . You ’ ll be operating from a moving picture as the business continues to scale and pivot and introduce new complexities into the environment , so you ’ ll need to remain focused and yet agile in your pursuit .
The key here is to work with a cloud security platform that enables this 30,000-foot view to take a strategic approach to your systems architecture and continue to do so as the requirements evolve . Once CIOs have visibility , then comes priorities .
The chosen cloud security platform will enable the necessary prioritization , relevant to the business ’ specific needs . In light of constantly evolving internal priorities and a tumultuous macro environment , keeping sight of the business context is critical to the success of the CIO ’ s role . Focus first on maintaining continuity for critical applications and services , and then work out how to build from there .
CIOs need to prioritize simplifying the management of their cloud environments in a way that aligns with the businesses ’ goals over time .
This undertaking is not just about how the organization ’ s cloud infrastructure can support and deliver today ’ s goals , but they must also consider the goals of tomorrow and plan ahead . Foundational issues can ’ t be solved through the adoption of the latest and perceived greatest technologies . CIOs must go back to basics if they want to succeed in their effort to enable tangible business value through the cloud . p
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