IT & Cybersecurity Operations

Taking a cloud-first strategy for applications creates agility and flexibility to deliver workflow improvements across the entire business operation. This approach can mean deploying an application across the whole business, like a human resource management (HRM) system. It can, more importantly, mean that the company can deploy workflow improvements to small teams throughout the organization. This is a shift from on-premises deployments where there was always a cost justification that you couldn’t make without scale. Software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and to a lesser degree, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) have provided businesses with new flexibility to deliver applications on a small scale and supply many operational efficiencies across business operations. The need to work from home accelerated this trend. The hybrid cloud approach to business effectiveness through new applications and workflow automation can be a real game-changer.

These capabilities include simplified deployment and integration, device management, log management, patch management, security policy enforcement, security information and event management (SIEM), plus security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR). Artificial Intelligence (AI) based cloud analysis has brought advanced security to the masses. This security allows a small organization to comply with the most advanced IT and cybersecurity operations standards (like NIST CMMI). Thus, enabling the business to be a global player in a supply chain. It also means that larger organizations that consolidate their public cloud operations can often improve their IT and cybersecurity operations and reduce costs by moving to these services.

DevOps

Many businesses provide information or services to customers and suppliers through applications and websites. These services often require custom software/website development or customization by the organization. This process involves a combination of practices and tools that enable the organization to deliver and update these services—often referred to as DevOps or continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD). Good DevOps capabilities were challenging for organizations due to infrastructure and licensing costs. Organizations can now take advantage of PaaS DevOps cloud systems integrated into public cloud providers' IaaS platforms. The integration and use of these DevOps systems are often easier when businesses consolidate public cloud providers. These systems standardize the workflow for developing and deploying changes in a structured manner that reduces risks.

IT Staff Knowledge

Perhaps the most significant driver for public cloud consolidation that we encountered over the last two years was IT staff knowledge. Staff struggled to maintain the skill sets to manage the various systems in organizations with IaaS and PaaS solutions that spanned multiple public clouds. The result was that the organization didn’t achieve the desired results or had higher-than-expected costs. There’s a real argument for best-of-breed solutions. However, it does require additional investment in staff education, which an organization doesn’t always consider or budget. Cloud provider consolidation for PaaS and IaaS can allow staff to gain a deeper and broader knowledge on that platform. Focusing on one public cloud platform improves support, expands feature use, and reduces overall costs.

IT Governance