Cloud Computing Governance

Cloud Computing Governance is one of the most critical topics in today’s era of Digital Transformation. Enterprises and consumers are heavily dependent on cloud services; Due to the favorable stretch in work from home scenarios, there has been a considerable increase in the number and ratio of cloud services in our daily life.

 Cloud Computing Governance?

Cloud computing  Governance is the basic set of rules that defines how the enterprise can safely consume cloud services and ensure privacy, data protection while managing risk associated with data sharing and storage in cloud services. It assists in creating a business-focused set of policies that helps to establish an adequate level of business investment and required controls throughout the cloud computing lifecycle.

Consequences of not having a Good Cloud computing governance?

•   Data loss – Including intentional/unintentional data exfiltration attempts by internal users.
• Compliance Risk – Lack of solid foundation to comply with local data protection regulation.
• Consumption visibility – lack of cloud services consumption ratio and visibility.
• Contractual Gaps – Lack of clear contractual terms and gaps that could lead to ambiguity.
• High exposure factor – leading to exposing external factors or cyberattacks
• Threat from insiders –  creating a favorable environment for insiders threats
• Missing standards – lack of internal standards toward cloud computing adoption or consumption

The list might go on; however, I must say the last but not least that enterprise is always at a RISK !!

The next question that usually lands up when we are in discussion with the clients is to define a starting point and create an overall landscape of different type of models and their related standards

Enterprises are usually left with more than a few options to consider while looking to establish cloud computing governance principles. One of the global consortiums is The Open Group. They have defined a set of 5 cloud computing governance that should be considered while adopting and applying the life cycle.

I: Compliance with Policies and Standards: Cloud standards should be open, consistent with, and complementary to standards prevalent in the industry and adopted by the enterprise.

II: Business Objectives Must Drive Cloud Strategy: Enterprise cloud strategy should be an integral part of the overall business and IT strategy driven by both the “business of the business” and the “business of IT” objectives for the enterprise.

III: Collaborative Contracts Between Citizens of the Cloud Ecosystem: A clear set of rules and agreements that define the interaction between stakeholders is essential for enabling their healthy coexistence within the cloud ecosystem.

IV: Adherence to Change Management Processes: Change should be exercised and enforced in a consistent and standardized manner across all constituents in the enterprise’s cloud ecosystem.

V: Enforcement of Vitality Processes to Achieve Continuous Improvement: Cloud computing governance processes must dynamically monitor events that trigger continuous improvements.

Above are just the starting point for the enterprises, and the next step is to establish a governance frame and guide on how to  start with.

 The journey of the enterprise continues from here, and they can also consider a traditional governance framework. Which are and have been in use for a while.

Is Cloud computing governance essential to consider?

Cloud computing governance is essential and one of the most crucial requirements for enterprises today. Our usual conversation is mostly with cloud security solutions. There is no better solution to secure the enterprise data without a well-implemented and consider cloud computing governance.