Cloud governance or how to get the most out of cloud computing

What is cloud computing? 

Currently, the use of cloud computing, both in personal and institutional settings, is highly widespread, despite a large percentage of its users being unaware of its definition. It is easy to give examples of everyday use: email, instant messaging applications, communication and collaboration applications, creating or editing a document in an office suite, and even simply sharing access to a file (photo, document, etc.). All of these actions are performed through a cloud computing service. 

Cloud computing offers indisputable advantages for institutions, avoiding the burden of managing their own infrastructure (servers, network, applications, etc.), which is delegated to an external provider who is responsible for maintaining, managing, and ensuring the proper functioning of the infrastructure, as well as the flexibility to scale up or down to adapt to workload requirements.  

Additionally, it is important to highlight that automation plays a fundamental role in cloud computing, avoiding errors in configurations that could affect data security, deployment times, and even directly impact budgets. 

All of this translates into simplification of processes and multiplication of resources/services to which access can be offered. In order to take advantage of this highly beneficial but complex system, the implementation of a cloud governance model is necessary. 

Governance in the IT field 

It refers to the application of a set of policies, practices, and management models that allow for the establishment of a strategic direction aligned with the objectives of the organization. These policies, practices, and models can be modified as needed and adapted to the evolution of the organisation and its objectives. All while considering parameters such as risk tolerance, cost optimisation, security risk mitigation, and compliance with corporate obligations or policies. 

Cloud governance 

Considering the previous definition of IT governance and transposing it to cloud computing, these same fundamentals would be applied to people, processes, and technology. However, this is not an easy task, as the strategies defined for traditional IT services differ greatly from those suitable for cloud computing. 

All of this translates into simplification of processes and multiplication of resources/services to which access can be offered

Motivated by the characteristics of the cloud itself (infrastructure elasticity, speed of provisioning, automation, among others), which allows organizations to eliminate technological infrastructure as a market differentiator, strategic decisions are made in a decentralized and accelerated manner. This results in high probabilities of incurring risks and operations and/or processes being out of control. 

Below are the main pillars of cloud governance to ensure that organizations manage the potential offered correctly: 

• Cost management: This is one of the main concerns of organizations when adopting the use of the cloud. Cost management should include cost estimation and budget planning, as well as monitoring to receive notifications according to established usage quotas to ensure that the planned budget is not exceeded. 
• Security: Safety considerations will be unique and of varying complexity in each organization. It is important to have as much internal knowledge as possible, and if this knowledge is not available, the inclusion of external consultants should be considered to identify and establish mitigating actions for these threats. 
• Identity and access: It’s important to provision and establish tools and mechanisms that allow for auditing and managing identities, users, and access, thereby reducing the risks associated with non-coherent resource access according to the user. 
• Capacity management: Resource usage should be monitored, as situations may arise in which there are underutilized resources, failures in automated expansions, or expansion demands that are not automated and require proactive actions. 

Considering what has been described above, the need and advantages of implementing a governance model for the cloud are evident. This model will allow the organization to define in a structured way the compliance with the previously described pillars aligned with its objectives, taking advantage of the capabilities and tools offered by this environment. 

A cloud governance model should focus on continuous improvement and management, and act in a cyclical and iterative way, which will allow the organization's management to have a granular (micro) and aggregated (macro) vision of the value added by cloud computing, as well as evolve and adapt according to the objectives established by the organization. On the other hand, a cloud governance model also allows for the containment and mitigation of risks associated with the adoption of such a complex environment. 

At Izertis, we have extensive experience in different cloud governance projects for both public and private institutions. Therefore, we can provide all this knowledge to help organizations, either in the migration or adoption of cloud computing or in the improvement and evolution of the current situation. Through the implementation of a cloud governance model, we can ensure proper risk management along with mitigating actions and optimal cost management, using the tools provided by this cloud environment, such as automations for capacity management based on project demand, as well as budget control in line with the organization's strategic direction.