• Cloud transformation can offer a range of benefits to organizations, but it requires careful planning and execution to be successful.

Cloud computing has become ubiquitous and significantly impacts various aspects of everyday life. However, it is important to note that cloud technology is continuously evolving. The recent shift towards remote working has prompted businesses to hasten their digital transformation and adopt cloud technology.

The adoption of cloud technology has gained momentum even after the pandemic as it provides speed, flexibility, and cost savings. Cloud technology is no longer just a tool for technology transformation but also acts as a catalyst for business transformation.

The journey toward digitalization opens up new customer-focused experiences, and businesses are now placing more emphasis on transformation during economic turmoil. The positive effects of cloud platforms, such as accelerating innovation, transforming business functions, enhancing communication and collaboration, and increasing productivity, have been recognized by C-suite executives over time.

According to Precedence Research, the global market for cloud computing is projected to exceed one trillion dollars by 2028.

Despite the belief held by some that moving to the cloud is a straightforward process, the reality is much more complex. Suppose companies do not have a comprehensive plan to address the intricate challenges of cloud adoption. In that case, the transition can lead to various issues, such as unexpected expenses, limited scalability and availability, inadequate security controls, and compliance violations, which can worry corporate stakeholders.

To ensure a successful cloud transformation, it is crucial to follow the key factors outlined below, which most business leaders implement.

Key Factors to Ensure a Successful Cloud Transformation for Businesses

Ensuring Security in the Cloud

Data-driven organizations prioritize cloud security and recognize the importance of implementing a vendor-agnostic solution to safeguard their on-premises and multi-cloud assets. They also focus on effective authentication to verify all access requests by leveraging Zero Trust security principles and adopting a “trust nothing, always verify” mindset.

Configuring cloud systems and applications is crucial to avoid misconfiguration that could lead to cloud breaches. Organizations must also adapt their traditional security controls to protect cloud-based endpoints by implementing EDR solutions that offer visibility and enable proactive threat identification for workloads.

Treating security as “code” is a successful approach that automates enforcing security policies and standards. This method, known as Security as Code (SaC), provides a secure cloud environment that enables enterprises to innovate quickly and without constraints.

Implementing strong security measures is crucial in preventing cyber-attacks, unauthorized access, and data theft, which could lead to significant financial losses, data loss, and harm to a business’s reputation.

Robust Cloud Governance Strategy

Applying traditional IT infrastructure and compliance methods to the cloud is not adequate. Cloud governance refers to managing the costs and risks of cloud services. It is essential for businesses primarily because it enhances scalability.

By establishing a clear cloud governance framework, effective cloud governance can help organizations fully utilize the benefits of cloud services while proactively managing costs, operational risks, and security concerns.

Defining a strong strategy regarding provisioning, access, and location is crucial. When deciding on an enterprise cloud governance strategy, it is important to consider the following key principles:

• Organize and arrange subscriptions in a logical structure, for instance, by organization domains or functions
• Establish and implement resource standards, i.e., prohibit the development of unwanted resources
• Examine and correct resources
• Enforce policies for all resources based on organizational standards and compliance requirements
• Continuously monitor all resources and assess the policies established for each resource.

Leveraging Data and Analytics

Data is the lifeblood of innovation, and businesses today use a massive amount of data. On-premises infrastructure is completely unsuitable for managing information of this scale and complexity. The cloud provides not only limitless storage and compute but also a plethora of analytics, machine learning, and AI solutions as a service, allowing businesses to derive accurate, actionable, and real-time insights.

Over-arching Cloud Strategic Plan

A successful cloud strategy views cloud transformation as a process, not a “project.” A comprehensive strategy and vision will aid in determining the transition’s trajectory. Without a complete plan, a succession of discrete, one-off projects can result in inconsistencies, disputes, deployment inefficiencies, and security holes, diminishing the benefits of migrating to the cloud.

A successful cloud transformation requires a well-defined and comprehensive cloud strategic plan. Here are some key elements that organizations should consider when creating their cloud strategic plan:

• Define business objectives
• Identify cloud use cases
• Determine cloud deployment model
• Address security and compliance
• Choose cloud service providers
• Develop a cloud migration plan
• Optimize cloud operations
• Foster a culture of innovation

A successful cloud transformation requires a holistic and well-defined cloud strategic plan that addresses all aspects of the transformation, from business objectives to security and compliance, migration, and optimization. The plan should be regularly reviewed and updated to remain relevant and aligned with the organization’s evolving needs and priorities.

Don’t Underestimate the Complexity

Migration to the cloud can seem deceptively simple: cloud providers can tantalize you with the ease of deployment, emphasizing doing it fast instead of doing it right. Many can go wrong from a configuration and security perspective. Cloud skills are scarce, and attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent is costly and time-consuming.

Moving to the cloud involves lifting and shifting your existing applications and infrastructure. It requires a fundamental shift in thinking about and managing your technology environment. You need to rethink your architecture, security, governance, and operations in a cloud-native context.

There are many factors that can make cloud transformation complex, including:

• Legacy infrastructure
• Data migration
• Application modernization
• Security and Compliance
• Organizational change

Cloud transformation is a complex process that requires careful planning, execution, and ongoing management. Understanding the challenges and risks associated with cloud transformation and working with experienced cloud experts to ensure a successful transformation is essential.

Strong Relationships with Cloud Providers

Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) can be valuable allies in your quest to revolutionize your industry and achieve a competitive edge. Your partnership with them should not be rigid and unchanging but instead adaptable and fluid, adjusting to the advancements in cloud technology over time.

To achieve maximum benefit from your cloud provider, establish a partnership that enables you to access their knowledge base for strategic advice, developing business cases, prioritizing workloads, and other related aspects. Top-tier organizations may opt for biannual meetings with the CSP’s senior technical architects to brainstorm technology and platform improvements that can give them a competitive edge. Meanwhile, SMEs can adopt best practice recommendations and obtain whitepapers and technical guidance from the CSP or peers in local groups like the Cloud Security Alliance.

Migrating to the cloud is a strategic decision that fosters innovation. Thus, to maximize the benefits of this innovation, it is crucial to establish a strong and flexible relationship with your cloud provider.

Conclusion

Cloud transformation can offer a range of benefits to organizations, but it requires careful planning and execution to be successful. Key factors that organizations should consider are security, scalability, data and amp; analytics, and this blog can help you climb the ladder of success seamlessly. By taking a strategic approach and addressing these factors, organizations can achieve a successful cloud transformation that enables them to improve efficiency, flexibility, and innovation while reducing costs and enhancing the customer experience.

• Agencies can swiftly and independently reconfigure and redeploy the modular components by deconstructing and re-architecting applications into a collection of microservices.
• According to research by the Cloud Security Alliance, 90% of CIOs had at least one disrupted or failed modernization project.

The need to adjust to the requirements of a shifting market cannot be overstated enough. Cloud-native applications help companies create digital platforms that boost efficiency, speed up innovation within the company, and increase revenue.

This means that cloud-based enterprise application modernization services are essential for future-proofing IT to meet the needs of the digital age. It has demonstrated its value to businesses by delivering scalability, cost savings, and security.

Today’s businesses prefer cloud computing because it allows them to utilize their existing on-premises expertise better.

Modernization is essential to make the most of new technology and adapt to the evolving needs of businesses. Realizing the benefits of cloud modernization requires an all-encompassing strategy that considers apps, infrastructure, and services.

What is Cloud Application Modernization?

Modernization of cloud-based applications is a term that is frequently used and often inaccurately. It is insufficient to migrate existing infrastructure to the cloud using a lift-and-shift methodology.

Unlocking the full benefits of the cloud is a continual, iterative process that requires a comprehensive reevaluation of the application portfolio.

With older cloud-based apps, modifying or scaling a component necessitates updating the entire application, like running the same on-premises.

Agencies can swiftly and independently reconfigure and redeploy the modular components by deconstructing and re-architecting applications into a collection of microservices.

These can be improved with cloud-native technologies such as containerization, serverless architectures, and DevOps.

What are Common Types of App Modernization?

The most common methods of application modernization include:

• Rehosting: Rehosting, also called “lift and shift,” entails shifting software or servers from the current environment to a public cloud infrastructure. Rehosting is the conventional approach for companies just beginning their modernization journey. This option does not necessitate changes to the code, features, or functions. Data is transferred to the cloud while business logic is maintained.
• Refactoring: This technique of application modernization involves rewriting major portions of a legacy application’s underlying code to improve its performance in a new environment, typically the cloud. It assists in eliminating technical debt and enhancing nonfunctional features.
• Replatforming: As an alternative to rehosting or refactoring, re-platforming simply transfers preexisting cloud-based apps to a new cloud service provider without making any substantial changes to the original application. The term “re-platforming” refers to updating an application to communicate with a cloud-native managed database, switching the OS or middleware it uses, or packaging the application in a container. Companies can boost scalability and developer efficiency through re-platforming.
• Replacing: It is important to consider decommissioning an application when it is no longer required in a cloud environment. Applications should be replaced when their functionality is duplicated elsewhere in the environment, they are of little value, or it is more cost-effective to replace them than to move them.

How can Cloud Modernization Help?

To modernize an application further means breaking down the application into pieces and then taking each part and building it to gain efficiencies and reduce costs.

Modernizing your data swiftly transforms your business into one driven by analytics and data. Modernization is the key to getting all the long-term value and benefits of running your IT infrastructure and applications in the cloud.

That means you need to keep looking at your infrastructure, cloud applications, and services to ensure they’re helping you reach your business and IT goals and working as well as they can.

Businesses must update their apps, infrastructure, and data to realize their full potential.

• Modernize your apps: Moving your apps to the cloud would save money and fix technical debt problems. But how much would your users and employees use it? You need to update your cloud-based applications to get the most out of the cloud ecosystem.
• Modernize the infrastructure: As software-defined infrastructure takes over the world, working in the new “infrastructure as code” system is important. Modernizing infrastructure is important in this kind of setting because it allows for more automation and management based on intelligence, which can cut costs.
• Modernize your data: Data is the third main part of a strategy for modernizing. On-premises data is difficult, expensive, rigid, and hard to keep up with in organizations today. On the other hand, data on the cloud is safe, easy to scale, flexible, and easy to move around.

Why is Cloud Modernization Important?

Businesses can migrate their aging on-premises software to the cloud with modernization.

By doing this, you may benefit from certain advantages, including –

• A quicker time to market
• Increased scalability
• Flexibility
• Cheaper costs

Application modernization improves workflow and boosts productivity for enterprises.

Trends in App Modernization

When coming up with a plan for application modernization, keep the following trends in mind:

• Multi-cloud environments: Multi-cloud refers to using multiple public cloud service providers for virtual data storage or computing power resources, with or without private cloud and on-premises infrastructure. According to Gartner, multi-cloud strategies are now more of a question of when than if. Many enterprises have 70% of their cloud portfolio with one provider and diversify the remaining 30%.
• Hybrid-cloud environments: A hybrid cloud is a combination of public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises infrastructure. With data currently held in on-premises data centers, 77% of business global infrastructure decision-makers who are planning, adopting or updating cloud infrastructure report being in a hybrid-cloud environment, according to Forrester.
• Containers and orchestration: One popular way to package, deploy, and manage applications and workloads is with containers and orchestration. Even though you can put a legacy app in a container, containers are best for development and operations that are less tied together (i.e., microservices).

How Can We Do It?

Even while the rationale for cloud application modernization in state and local governments is compelling, it can be challenging to implement.

According to research by the Cloud Security Alliance, 90% of CIOs had at least one disrupted or failed modernization project.

To maximize chances of success, agencies must take time to plan, navigate, engineer, and incrementally execute their cloud app modernization project.

The following steps are an excellent place to start:

• Know the application portfolio:

Most state and local governments have a massive collection of software resources that they can use. Some may have been made to run on mainframes in the early days of computers. They may have been written in languages like COBOL and assembler, which are now outdated and complex to keep up with because the programmers who know how to use them are getting close to retirement age. Some apps are essential to the mission, but others have been forgotten.

It’s essential to keep track of what hardware apps run on, if they depend on each other, what language they were written in, how old they are, and if they pose any known security risks. Since doing this by hand takes much time, many companies buy software to make the process easier. No matter what method you use, try not to take shortcuts during the discovery process. Doing so can ruin any future efficiency gains.

• Remove unused software:

Once a complete picture of the agency’s application portfolio is ready, it’s essential to eliminate unused and out-of-date software. State and local governments are known for keeping old software for a long time. This makes it much easier to keep track of and manage the assets that are still left.

• Consider future needs and goals:

Cloud-native apps provide advantages like nearly limitless computational power, AI-driven tools, and plenty of storage. Agencies must consider translating these extensive capabilities into concrete operations to reap these advantages.

• Find quick wins:

Avoid trying to modernize every application at once since it will be chaotic. Instead, choose the outcomes that come to you quickly. This could entail updating programs to address urgent issues, perform tasks more quickly, or even lessen significant security flaws. Remember that these choices should be supported by knowledge and data.

• Create a roadmap that includes both the overarching infrastructure and individual app:

It will be easier to avoid unpleasant shocks if you have a clear plan (both macro and micro).

• Make ongoing improvements:

You can’t just set up a portfolio of cloud-native apps and forget about them. To track performance, ensure that app data is collected throughout the tech landscape.

The Bottom Line

Modernizing cloud apps for state and local governments will take much work. But to increase resilience, guarantee ROI, and boost productivity, IT decision-makers must make it happen.

The process can be streamlined by choosing a partner with the required expertise, technology, and employees, which will reduce setup times and upfront costs.

• Agencies can swiftly and independently reconfigure and redeploy the modular components by deconstructing and re-architecting applications into a collection of microservices.
• According to research by the Cloud Security Alliance, 90% of CIOs had at least one disrupted or failed modernization project.

The need to adjust to the requirements of a shifting market cannot be overstated enough. Cloud-native applications help companies create digital platforms that boost efficiency, speed up innovation within the company, and increase revenue.

This means that cloud-based enterprise application modernization services are essential for future-proofing IT to meet the needs of the digital age. It has demonstrated its value to businesses by delivering scalability, cost savings, and security.

Today’s businesses prefer cloud computing because it allows them to utilize their existing on-premises expertise better.

Modernization is essential to make the most of new technology and adapt to the evolving needs of businesses. Realizing the benefits of cloud modernization requires an all-encompassing strategy that considers apps, infrastructure, and services.

What is Cloud Application Modernization?

Modernization of cloud-based applications is a term that is frequently used and often inaccurately. It is insufficient to migrate existing infrastructure to the cloud using a lift-and-shift methodology.

Unlocking the full benefits of the cloud is a continual, iterative process that requires a comprehensive reevaluation of the application portfolio.

With older cloud-based apps, modifying or scaling a component necessitates updating the entire application, like running the same on-premises.

Agencies can swiftly and independently reconfigure and redeploy the modular components by deconstructing and re-architecting applications into a collection of microservices.

These can be improved with cloud-native technologies such as containerization, serverless architectures, and DevOps.

What are Common Types of App Modernization?

The most common methods of application modernization include:

• Rehosting: Rehosting, also called “lift and shift,” entails shifting software or servers from the current environment to a public cloud infrastructure. Rehosting is the conventional approach for companies just beginning their modernization journey. This option does not necessitate changes to the code, features, or functions. Data is transferred to the cloud while business logic is maintained.
• Refactoring: This technique of application modernization involves rewriting major portions of a legacy application’s underlying code to improve its performance in a new environment, typically the cloud. It assists in eliminating technical debt and enhancing nonfunctional features.
• Replatforming: As an alternative to rehosting or refactoring, re-platforming simply transfers preexisting cloud-based apps to a new cloud service provider without making any substantial changes to the original application. The term “re-platforming” refers to updating an application to communicate with a cloud-native managed database, switching the OS or middleware it uses, or packaging the application in a container. Companies can boost scalability and developer efficiency through re-platforming.
• Replacing: It is important to consider decommissioning an application when it is no longer required in a cloud environment. Applications should be replaced when their functionality is duplicated elsewhere in the environment, they are of little value, or it is more cost-effective to replace them than to move them.

How can Cloud Modernization Help?

To modernize an application further means breaking down the application into pieces and then taking each part and building it to gain efficiencies and reduce costs.

Modernizing your data swiftly transforms your business into one driven by analytics and data. Modernization is the key to getting all the long-term value and benefits of running your IT infrastructure and applications in the cloud.

That means you need to keep looking at your infrastructure, cloud applications, and services to ensure they’re helping you reach your business and IT goals and working as well as they can.

Businesses must update their apps, infrastructure, and data to realize their full potential.

• Modernize your apps: Moving your apps to the cloud would save money and fix technical debt problems. But how much would your users and employees use it? You need to update your cloud-based applications to get the most out of the cloud ecosystem.
• Modernize the infrastructure: As software-defined infrastructure takes over the world, working in the new “infrastructure as code” system is important. Modernizing infrastructure is important in this kind of setting because it allows for more automation and management based on intelligence, which can cut costs.
• Modernize your data: Data is the third main part of a strategy for modernizing. On-premises data is difficult, expensive, rigid, and hard to keep up with in organizations today. On the other hand, data on the cloud is safe, easy to scale, flexible, and easy to move around.

Why is Cloud Modernization Important?

Businesses can migrate their aging on-premises software to the cloud with modernization.

By doing this, you may benefit from certain advantages, including –

• A quicker time to market
• Increased scalability
• Flexibility
• Cheaper costs

Application modernization improves workflow and boosts productivity for enterprises.

Trends in App Modernization

When coming up with a plan for application modernization, keep the following trends in mind:

• Multi-cloud environments: Multi-cloud refers to using multiple public cloud service providers for virtual data storage or computing power resources, with or without private cloud and on-premises infrastructure. According to Gartner, multi-cloud strategies are now more of a question of when than if. Many enterprises have 70% of their cloud portfolio with one provider and diversify the remaining 30%.
• Hybrid-cloud environments: A hybrid cloud is a combination of public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises infrastructure. With data currently held in on-premises data centers, 77% of business global infrastructure decision-makers who are planning, adopting or updating cloud infrastructure report being in a hybrid-cloud environment, according to Forrester.
• Containers and orchestration: One popular way to package, deploy, and manage applications and workloads is with containers and orchestration. Even though you can put a legacy app in a container, containers are best for development and operations that are less tied together (i.e., microservices).

How Can We Do It?

Even while the rationale for cloud application modernization in state and local governments is compelling, it can be challenging to implement.

According to research by the Cloud Security Alliance, 90% of CIOs had at least one disrupted or failed modernization project.

To maximize chances of success, agencies must take time to plan, navigate, engineer, and incrementally execute their cloud app modernization project.

The following steps are an excellent place to start:

• Know the application portfolio:

Most state and local governments have a massive collection of software resources that they can use. Some may have been made to run on mainframes in the early days of computers. They may have been written in languages like COBOL and assembler, which are now outdated and complex to keep up with because the programmers who know how to use them are getting close to retirement age. Some apps are essential to the mission, but others have been forgotten.

It’s essential to keep track of what hardware apps run on, if they depend on each other, what language they were written in, how old they are, and if they pose any known security risks. Since doing this by hand takes much time, many companies buy software to make the process easier. No matter what method you use, try not to take shortcuts during the discovery process. Doing so can ruin any future efficiency gains.

• Remove unused software:

Once a complete picture of the agency’s application portfolio is ready, it’s essential to eliminate unused and out-of-date software. State and local governments are known for keeping old software for a long time. This makes it much easier to keep track of and manage the assets that are still left.

• Consider future needs and goals:

Cloud-native apps provide advantages like nearly limitless computational power, AI-driven tools, and plenty of storage. Agencies must consider translating these extensive capabilities into concrete operations to reap these advantages.

• Find quick wins:

Avoid trying to modernize every application at once since it will be chaotic. Instead, choose the outcomes that come to you quickly. This could entail updating programs to address urgent issues, perform tasks more quickly, or even lessen significant security flaws. Remember that these choices should be supported by knowledge and data.

• Create a roadmap that includes both the overarching infrastructure and individual app:

It will be easier to avoid unpleasant shocks if you have a clear plan (both macro and micro).

• Make ongoing improvements:

You can’t just set up a portfolio of cloud-native apps and forget about them. To track performance, ensure that app data is collected throughout the tech landscape.

The Bottom Line

Modernizing cloud apps for state and local governments will take much work. But to increase resilience, guarantee ROI, and boost productivity, IT decision-makers must make it happen.

The process can be streamlined by choosing a partner with the required expertise, technology, and employees, which will reduce setup times and upfront costs.

• Green cloud computing is defined as utilizing technical breakthroughs to drive sustainability in computing and other IT resources – for possible environmental advantages.
• Green computing minimizes both the usage of computer resources and their negative environmental impacts, all while enhancing business operations and processes.

The most dynamic aspect of the constant computer device-led evolution has been the technology that drives it. Cloud computing has opened a brand-new doorway for how businesses and organizations can store their enterprise information. In addition, cloud computing has become an essential infrastructure need for modern businesses owing to its cost-effectiveness, scalability and security.

By 2021, experts anticipate that Cloud Data Centers will manage over 91% of the workloads of businesses worldwide. In addition, it is anticipated that the cloud computing market will peak at $623,3 billion in 2023.

The facts presented above lead us to conclude that cloud computing is the future of data storage due to its simplicity, security and convenience features.

To decrease energy usage, cloud computing is also investigating energy-efficient work methodologies. In the IT world, this innovation has evolved into something unique, known as Green Cloud Computing.

First, let’s quickly take a look at the green cloud computing definition and its advantages.

Green cloud computing introduces eco-friendly workflows

Green cloud computing is defined as utilizing technical breakthroughs to drive sustainability in computing and other IT resources – for possible environmental advantages. Green computing minimizes both the usage of computer resources and their negative environmental impacts.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that data centers utilize 1% of the world’s electricity and that by 2025, they will consume 20% of the world’s power.

Here’s where green cloud computing is set to make a difference. It provides solutions for the high expenses of acquiring and maintaining infrastructure and the emissions produced by their use.

Green cloud computing has three main goals:

• To maximize energy efficiencies during the device’s lifecycle
• Promote the use of recyclable materials
• Minimize the use of hazardous IT components

Thus, green computing and sustainability go hand in hand to enhance business operations and processes while caring for the environment.

Acting on the benefits of green cloud computing

Remote workers produce fewer carbon footprints: Working remotely and working from anywhere and at any time was seen as the most significant advantage of green cloud computing by businesses. The flexibility increased staff productivity and reduced their daily commute. This minimizing of commuting time has diminished fossil fuel usage and the resultant carbon emissions.

Going Paperless with Green Computing and Cloud Computing: All files may be kept in a single location with the cloud’s revolutionary functionalities. Large file cabinets are unnecessary for storing your printed copies. Green cloud computing enables businesses to eliminate paper documents.

Green mobile computing storage choices such as OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive and Dropbox are currently in widespread use. Adobe Sign and DocuSign, the two secure cloud computing green technologies have eliminated the need to print documents. These green computing solutions enable users to sign, store and distribute contracts and legal documents in a matter of seconds with only a few mouse button clicks without compromising the entire firm’s operations.

Generation of E-waste Reduced: There is more of electronic garbage generated every ten years. This trash discharge harms the ecosystem as well as human health. The USA alone discards 24 million computers annually, 14% of computers are discarded or given to charity. In underdeveloped nations where they are imported, the e-waste continues to move via a commerce cycle. The garbage is recycled in part, scrapped, or burned as a  whole. The e-waste that has been burned enters waterways and contaminates them.

Key organizational benefits of green cloud computing

The following are some advantages for businesses that use green cloud computing strategies:

• More efficient information processing
• Infrastructure costs are eliminated, or at least reduced, for those that employ hybrid cloud strategies
• Businesses are eligible for the “green status.” With a strong brand image, they may demonstrate sustainable business practices in their advertising.
• Savings brought on by better resource management
• Decrease in the use of natural resources
• Lowers ongoing operational expenses

How can your business migrate to green cloud computing?

Almost all cloud service providers (CSPs) embrace net-zero strategies to minimize the environmental effects of greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions.

But, cloud operations aren’t always energy-efficient. You may move to a ‘green cloud’ using these three strategies:

Virtualization: Virtualization overcomes the issue of excessive energy use on-premises data centers. For instance, an organization may use server virtualization to operate numerous virtual machines (VMs) on the same physical server. This effectively divides the actual host into several virtual servers, allowing the business to realize substantial cost savings.

Small-scale clients and low-end devices requiring little power allow employees to access these resources from any place. The future scope of green computing is Virtualization.

Cloud optimization tools: Numerous cloud improvements that decrease server usage rates also lower greenhouse gas emissions. However, this may not work in some circumstances, such as when the corporation pays in bulk or receives reduced services. To decrease energy usage in this case, you must have complete insight over the whole IT infrastructure to optimize the cloud configuration.

Carbon-aware CSPs: It is always preferable to choose a cloud service provider that is carbon-aware over the one that runs on non-renewable energy. The Green Web Foundation (GWF) maintains a directory of all carbon-aware CSPs from which you can choose, if you migrate to the cloud.

Supporting sustainability

Green cloud computing advances sustainable business technologies. Infrastructure, data efficiency and energy savings may help the environment and companies that utilize them. Green cloud computing reduces data center emissions and the total carbon impact. This decrease is needed for a sustainable enterprise market and creative business solutions.

Green cloud computing may help your firm achieve an excellent bottom line, increase employee productivity, reinvent the business processes and improve the environment.

• An August 2021 Gartner Report says that 90% of all organizations worldwide will use containerized applications in production by 2026.
• Containers are an effective approach for developers to bundle and deploy their applications because they are compact and offer a uniform, portable software environment that enables applications to run and scale everywhere.

The world of technology has witnessed three different stages of revolutions. It includes the Industrial Revolution, the Scientific and Technical Revolution and the contemporary Digital Revolution.

What is digital revolution?

Digital Revolution is transitioning from mechanical or analog electronic technologies to digital electronics to store, transfer and use information.

The Digital Revolution period, which began in the 1980s, is still in effect!

It is said that the “Information Era” started with the Digital Revolution. This marks the beginning of the so-called “Digital Revolution,” which began in the second part of the 20th century. The development of the internet and the rise of personal computers kick-started owing to digital revolution! You can also name it is as the “Third Industrial Revolution”!

The growing use of digital computers and the growth of digital information storage are two examples of the digital revolution. More sophisticated computer systems have emerged because of digital revolution.

However, why has it evolved into a revolution?

Many global businesses have gained access to digital technologies in the past two decades, making radical changes to their operations; it is gradually spreading out and increasing productivity across a wide variety of domains, sectors and industries.

Digital technologies have been widely adopted because of several events, forever altering how we exchange and use information.

Hence, a strategic framework is essential for digital technology and application modernization is its significant component.

The process of modernizing applications

Application modernization enables you to expand upon daily used, successful IT investments. It also enables you to continually add value while managing an IT environment that is dynamic and quick to change. With Modernized Applications, you can transform your essential business applications, procedures and infrastructure from the mainframe to the Cloud and quickly innovate with not many risks.

Legacy, Optimize and Modernize are the three phases of the application modernization process. Knowing where you are in the process of application modernization can help you plan your migration strategy.

• Legacy phase
  Your path to the cloud may start by migrating a monolithic (old) application and replatforming it on managed Amazon Web Services also known as AWS services.
• Optimize phase

It offers significant advantages when a re-platformed program is upgraded with infrastructure as code (IAC) and automated CI/CD. Additional benefits of the optimization phase include:

1. Accelerated time to market
2. Rapid innovation
3. Reduced risks

• Streamline phase

An application is containerized on a cloud-native microservices architecture during this stage. Cost optimization can be achieved during this time because:

1. It has reduced costs and maintenance time
2. The use of autoscaling lowers resources. Resource consumption is optimized through container orchestration (using Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS or AWS Fargate).
3. There are no licensing fees or very little of them.

A report from Gartner from August 2021 says that 90% of all organizations worldwide will use containerized applications in production by 2026. This is up from 40% in 2021. Additionally, up from less than 10% in 2020, 20% of all enterprise applications will run in containers by 2026.

Containerization at its best: Containers’ function in application modernization

Modern programs are automatically deployed at scale using containers, promoting cost reductions. They offer a uniform method for combining an application’s dependencies, configurations and code into a single object.

Containers are an effective approach for developers to bundle and deploy their applications because they are compact and offer a uniform, portable software environment that enables applications to run and scale everywhere.

These containers run as resource-isolated process that share an operating system installed on the server. Regardless of the environment, they offer swift, dependable and consistent deployments.

Common applications for containers:

• Quickly begin jobs and dynamically scale them in response to demand.
• Standardize the testing, deploying and updating of code.
• Scale up machine learning models quickly for any platform’s training and execution.
• Applications can be moved more quickly to the Cloud.
• Make it simpler to scale and develop Applications quickly.

How containers aid in cost optimization:

• Minimal or no license fees: Containers can be easily accessed without any extravagant fee structures.
• Costs and time spent on maintenance are cut: There is no need for extra configuration management tools.
• Orchestration for containers: Aligns workload-specific requirements to reduce costs with Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS, or AWS Fargate.
• Fewer materials are needed: Heavy Operating Software or OS images don’t need to be duplicated when using containers. On the same hardware, various applications are active. Instead of requiring multiple hosts to deploy apps, they use a single host.
• Autoscaling: To keep resource costs under control, use measurements (Amazon CloudWatch or Kubernetes Metrics Server) or triggered events with Kubernetes Event-driven Autoscaling (KEDA).
• Downscaling: By terminating superfluous Pods on the weekends and throughout the evenings, Kubernetes Pod hours are optimized.
• You may optimize prices using Amazon EC2 purchase options based on your needs. The possibilities include Spot Instances, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans and others.
• Current CloudOps: Reduces costs and saves time by automating, monitoring and managing workloads and containers.
• Rightsizing: the requests and limits for CPU and memory that each container in a Kubernetes Pod may use.

But why should you build applications on AWS?

Well, by providing a wide range of services and functionalities, AWS helps businesses create cutting-edge applications, with ease.

The AWS serverless services let you design and run applications without putting a lot of thought into it! Your developers concentrate on innovation rather than getting side-tracked by running the underlying operations and infrastructure.

The Microservices architecture!

In this contemporary architecture, an application is created as a group of services. Each microservice manages specific duties while accommodating an application functionality. Because they are loosely coupled, components can be independently deployed and scaled. The integrated building pieces of AWS services facilitate a microservices architecture.

How to begin modernizing your applications:

Here are the key challenges:

• Evaluating the worth of current applications
• Following the guidelines of the AWS Well-Architected Framework for hosting architecture and tooling
• Choosing where and how to start
• Inadequate pre- and post-migration requirements for skills
• Employee and business stakeholder resistance to change

Get started: AWS Cost Optimization Assessment

Organizations are under pressure from the present business climate to identify cost savings immediately. Utilizing containerization to update your infrastructure can lower expenses while enhancing application capabilities.

Just starting your migration to AWS?

You may experience more AWS benefits earlier in your cloud journey if you incorporate containers into your migration strategy.

The logical next step to help you take advantage of AWS’s cost-saving, scalability and agility advantages may be containerization.

To sum up 

In today’s dynamic environment, it is clear that enterprises require faster operations and faster services.

In contrast, legacy items are typically more expensive and labor-intensive. Organizations can benefit from the new and varied opportunities through modernization by utilizing the new IT architecture.

The finest aspect is that it can be done inside and in accordance with the limitations imposed by the organization.

Therefore, by modernizing their legacy applications while considering the methodologies and obstacles stated above, organizations can achieve the digital transformation they desire.

• Businesses must come to terms with the fact that they will have to choose between cloud-based or on-premises.

Deciding between a cloud environment and on-premises can be a very complex process. But to be true, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, and much depends on what’s important to an organization. For starters, a business’ requirements should be considered and analyzed to tip the scale towards one approach to the next.

In this blog, we’ll explore the advantages and disadvantages of on-premise and cloud infrastructure and help you choose one. But before we get started, let’s clarify some of the basics.

What is on-premises architecture?

In the case of on-premise software, everything from implementation through operation is handled internally, whereby maintenance, security, and updates must also be handled internally. The software is deployed on your servers, mandating the purchase of extra power servers, database software, and operating systems. There’s no third-party intervention here, and an organization takes full ownership.

On-premises advantages

• Connectivity: You don’t need outside things like the internet to get to your servers.
• Cost: The total cost of ownership is less than the cost of making payments regularly if you look at the system’s entire lifecycle.
• Control: Since it’s your hardware, data, and software platform, you own and have complete control over it. Any changes, configurations, and upgrades are done at your discretion.

On-premises disadvantages

• Maintenance: All hardware, software, storage, data backups, and disaster recovery must be maintained on-site. Limited budgets and resources can be a hindrance. This is especially true for small organizations.
• Deployment: The deployment takes longer because the software must be installed on servers and individual computers.
• Cost: There is a high up-front capital cost and support and functionality costs as well.

What is true cloud architecture?

Cloud architecture is a virtual server hosted through cloud computing. Cloud computing is all about the delivery of on-demand computer system resources. Here, there’s no need for active management, and it generally involves applications such as storage and processing power. The advantage is that there is no need to buy additional infrastructure or licenses. The cloud provider maintains the servers, networks, and software in return for a fee. All the information hosted by the vendor can be obtained via a web portal. There are no shared resources but a dedicated private cloud that allows customers to use the platform.

Cloud Software Advantages

• Cost: Since there is no longer a need to maintain on-premises servers, the cost of power and other such resources is eliminated.
• Scalability: Cloud technologies offer greater flexibility because they can be scaled up on demand depending on the organization’s needs.
• Affordability: There are no upfront costs associated with cloud hosting. Instead, modest payments are required to be made on a regular basis like any operating expenses. This covers maintenance, support services, daily backup charges, and licensing fees.
• Deployment: Cloud software can be deployed in just hours or days without needing a physical server because it is done over the internet.
• Accessibility: With cloud software, users can use any device or a web browser to access apps anytime, from any location.
• Security: Cloud service providers implement security procedures that the business would find exceedingly stringent if they were to be carried out internally. Therefore, the better the measures, the better security it offers.
• Maintenance: Since it’s hosted software, you don’t have to worry about or spend time maintaining the software or the hardware it’s installed on. Compatibility and upgrades are taken care of by the cloud service provider.

Cloud software disadvantages

• Costs: The total ownership cost may be higher than the price you pay upfront if you look at the entire lifecycle of the system.
• Customizable: A cloud solution may not always be the best for developers with complex needs.
• Connectivity: If you want to be productive, you always need to have access to the internet that you can trust at all times.

Choosing between the cloud and on-premises infrastructure

The choice is tough but ultimately boils down to the needs of an organization and the resources it holds. The questions mentioned below may help make a choice.

How much control do you need?

Imagine how a cloud outage will affect your firm. Mission-critical services require high availability, so you would not want to keep them in the cloud. That being said, cloud services can be configured with high reliability. On the other hand, there’s always a cap on reliability and scalability in the case of on-premises infrastructure. It’s best to do a risk assessment to gauge what your organization can live with, given its internal capabilities.

What are the cost trade-offs?

The limitations, capabilities, and costs depend on the infrastructure you want to develop and run your applications. It’s a tough call to calculate and compare costs for on-premises and cloud computing. Some investments call for huge upfront costs for infrastructure, but in the long-run, they should cost less. It’s essential to run many workloads on the cloud, but others do not.

Whom do you trust?

While taking a call between on-premises and cloud-based infrastructures, security is a prime concern. In the case of on-premise, you can own and manage your security, and in the case of cloud-based computing, the focus is less on security and more on your product or business.

Both architectures handle security differently. In the case of on-premise, it’s the responsibility of the IT teams to take care of security. Cloud providers abstract this away.  Maintaining physical control of your hardware may appear to be secure, but cloud providers are security experts.

In conclusion

Not all programs can be accessed in either manner; the business has little choice but to select the application they are confident will fulfill their requirements. Businesses must come to terms with the fact that they will have to choose between cloud-based or on-premises.

Given the similarities between the two, the decision to choose between the two is quite tricky. It is generally suggested that small businesses with limited capital opt for on-demand and subscription-based cloud data centers. Organizations with sufficient capital and resources often need to exercise complete control and employ great security. They must go for in-house data centers.

• With the cloud, enterprises can easily experiment with machine learning capabilities and scale up as projects go into production and demand sees an uptick.
• It’s nothing like it when those experiences help users and consumers get what they need when they need it.

Many people are familiar with leading technology platforms like Windows, iOS, and AWS. Platforms are a group of technologies that serve as a base from which other applications are built and scaled. These platforms enable most of today’s advanced technology capabilities and help organizations deliver cutting-edge customer experiences.

In a bid to maintain pace with the scale and complexity of the technological capabilities brought by big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and machine learning, many organizations are building sophisticated internal platforms. Businesses are beginning to understand that investing in the infrastructure requires training, testing, and deploying models and is crucial for long-term viability.

Business and IT experts have forever expressed opinions about a single-purpose solution and an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. Enterprise technology platforms have yielded significant benefits and have helped turn technology into a competitive advantage. Let’s learn how.

The evolution of enterprise platforms

Enterprise platform is referred to a set of technologies and tools that form the base and upon which other applications, processes or technologies are developed. Such solutions are used to accomplish cross-functional duties and other capabilities that are mostly delivered by one or more enterprise systems.

Crucially, enterprise systems are a pool of integrated software applications that manifest different capabilities and work with shared data.

AI and machine learning are steadily making their way into enterprise applications in areas such as customer support, fraud detection, and business intelligence. In their bid to offer a better customer experience, organizations are leveraging cloud-native platforms such as Kubernetes that can run large AI and ML workloads.

What are the Benefits of Machine Learning in the Cloud?

With the cloud, enterprises can easily experiment with machine learning capabilities and scale up as projects go into production and demand sees an uptick. The cloud does not need advanced artificial intelligence or data science skills to make intelligent capabilities accessible. Leading technology companies such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform offer various machine learning options that do not call for deep knowledge of AI, machine learning theory, or a team of data scientists.

Best practices to develop cloud-based machine learning platforms

Even as cloud-based applications offer greater safety and efficiency, it’s often difficult to manage them appropriately. Below we have listed a few best practices in cloud-based app that can help you minimize possible downsides and make the most of all the benefits these practices provide.

Start small: Even the best testing and Quality Assurance (QA) environment can miss problems that aren’t found until something goes into production. Start with a small number of people when making big changes that can affect customers meaningfully. Once you see that things are working in production at a small scale, you can scale up. Try using associates only for the initial population when small change impacts external customers.

If something looks too good to be true: Exception monitoring is a great way to ensure that execution matches your intent. The goal is often to have no exceptions at all. For instance, latency should never be more than 200 milliseconds. If your exception reporting never shows any errors, the possibility is that monitoring is broken. Always force an exception to make sure it works as it should.

Be honest and communicate well:  Share decisions, progress, and plans with stakeholders. Besides clarifying what you are working on, you should also emphasize what you are not working on right now. Invest in the documentation that makes it easy for people to contribute and join the platform.

Get serious about being well-managed: Platform owners always keep platform performance in mind. All problems should be identified with the help of controls and automated alerts. Exceptions should be dealt with right away. On priority, get to the bottom of the problem and make changes to stop them from happening again. If there are no issues, it must be celebrated appropriately so that teams feel appreciated.

Focus on business goals: Building great platforms can take time. It is essential to put the work in sequence so that business value can be gained at each step. This keeps the team going, builds trust, and starts a positive cycle.

Work backwards from a well-defined end state: Before you start building, spend sufficient time aligning on the end state architecture and how you plan to get there. Make sure your architecture is set up to allow self-service and contributions from the start. Better yet, design the platform with the idea that people outside your business or organization will use it.

Analyze how long it will take, then double it: It’s important to take the time to think about all the capabilities you need to build at the start and then figure out how much work each one will take. When your tech teams combine this information with their speed to determine how long it will take to build each feature, add a 50% buffer.

Build a cross-functional team, even if it slows you down: The team size does not always matter. At a minimum, product managers, engineers, and designers are required. Allot these functions to those who truly understand the platform users.

Conclusion

Opportunities are galore when a team has a strong culture and is supported by apt platform technology. Businesses must experiment with newer, more innovative products and experiences by combining cloud-native platforms and data. It’s nothing like it when those experiences help users, and consumers get what they need when they need it.

• With the cloud, enterprises can easily experiment with machine learning capabilities and scale up as projects go into production and demand sees an uptick.
• It’s nothing like it when those experiences help users and consumers get what they need when they need it.

Many people are familiar with leading technology platforms like Windows, iOS, and AWS. Platforms are a group of technologies that serve as a base from which other applications are built and scaled. These platforms enable most of today’s advanced technology capabilities and help organizations deliver cutting-edge customer experiences.

In a bid to maintain pace with the scale and complexity of the technological capabilities brought by big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and machine learning, many organizations are building sophisticated internal platforms. Businesses are beginning to understand that investing in the infrastructure requires training, testing, and deploying models and is crucial for long-term viability.

Business and IT experts have forever expressed opinions about a single-purpose solution and an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. Enterprise technology platforms have yielded significant benefits and have helped turn technology into a competitive advantage. Let’s learn how.

The evolution of enterprise platforms

Enterprise platform is referred to a set of technologies and tools that form the base and upon which other applications, processes or technologies are developed. Such solutions are used to accomplish cross-functional duties and other capabilities that are mostly delivered by one or more enterprise systems.

Crucially, enterprise systems are a pool of integrated software applications that manifest different capabilities and work with shared data.

AI and machine learning are steadily making their way into enterprise applications in areas such as customer support, fraud detection, and business intelligence. In their bid to offer a better customer experience, organizations are leveraging cloud-native platforms such as Kubernetes that can run large AI and ML workloads.

What are the Benefits of Machine Learning in the Cloud?

With the cloud, enterprises can easily experiment with machine learning capabilities and scale up as projects go into production and demand sees an uptick. The cloud does not need advanced artificial intelligence or data science skills to make intelligent capabilities accessible. Leading technology companies such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform offer various machine learning options that do not call for deep knowledge of AI, machine learning theory, or a team of data scientists.

Best practices to develop cloud-based machine learning platforms

Even as cloud-based applications offer greater safety and efficiency, it’s often difficult to manage them appropriately. Below we have listed a few best practices in cloud-based app that can help you minimize possible downsides and make the most of all the benefits these practices provide.

Start small: Even the best testing and Quality Assurance (QA) environment can miss problems that aren’t found until something goes into production. Start with a small number of people when making big changes that can affect customers meaningfully. Once you see that things are working in production at a small scale, you can scale up. Try using associates only for the initial population when small change impacts external customers.

If something looks too good to be true: Exception monitoring is a great way to ensure that execution matches your intent. The goal is often to have no exceptions at all. For instance, latency should never be more than 200 milliseconds. If your exception reporting never shows any errors, the possibility is that monitoring is broken. Always force an exception to make sure it works as it should.

Be honest and communicate well:  Share decisions, progress, and plans with stakeholders. Besides clarifying what you are working on, you should also emphasize what you are not working on right now. Invest in the documentation that makes it easy for people to contribute and join the platform.

Get serious about being well-managed: Platform owners always keep platform performance in mind. All problems should be identified with the help of controls and automated alerts. Exceptions should be dealt with right away. On priority, get to the bottom of the problem and make changes to stop them from happening again. If there are no issues, it must be celebrated appropriately so that teams feel appreciated.

Focus on business goals: Building great platforms can take time. It is essential to put the work in sequence so that business value can be gained at each step. This keeps the team going, builds trust, and starts a positive cycle.

Work backwards from a well-defined end state: Before you start building, spend sufficient time aligning on the end state architecture and how you plan to get there. Make sure your architecture is set up to allow self-service and contributions from the start. Better yet, design the platform with the idea that people outside your business or organization will use it.

Analyze how long it will take, then double it: It’s important to take the time to think about all the capabilities you need to build at the start and then figure out how much work each one will take. When your tech teams combine this information with their speed to determine how long it will take to build each feature, add a 50% buffer.

Build a cross-functional team, even if it slows you down: The team size does not always matter. At a minimum, product managers, engineers, and designers are required. Allot these functions to those who truly understand the platform users.

Conclusion

Opportunities are galore when a team has a strong culture and is supported by apt platform technology. Businesses must experiment with newer, more innovative products and experiences by combining cloud-native platforms and data. It’s nothing like it when those experiences help users, and consumers get what they need when they need it.

• Cloud governance is a set of rules and policies adopted by companies that run services in the cloud.
• Organizations need to incorporate enterprise governance, corporate governance or conformance, and business governance in their system to achieve their goals. The recent inclusion in this list is cloud governance.

Given the many benefits of a cloud-native network, more and more organizations are transitioning to the cloud as it facilitates the development of systems and deployment of assets with more ease. Though the cloud promotes innovation and productivity, it can also cause issues like poor integration between cloud systems, duplication of data, lack of alignment between cloud systems and business goals, and new security issues such as lack of access control.

Cloud governance helps organizations ensure that data security, system integration, asset deployment, and other aspects of cloud computing are planned and managed properly. Cloud governance is highly dynamic as cloud systems are often created and maintained by different organization teams, involve third parties, and can change daily. It is here that cloud governance efforts make sure that complex environments meet organizational policies and cloud governance.

In this blog, we will discuss some of the best governance practices that can be followed by organizations to make the most of their cloud framework.

Cloud governance best practices

Irrespective of the organization’s size, a few best practices can help make the most of the cloud framework.

1. Maintain focus on organizational goals

Whether an organization adopts a public, private or hybrid cloud, cloud governance models should prioritize the business. An organization’s long-term financial and strategic goals must be aligned with the cloud infrastructure and usage. In other words, the cloud framework must be designed such that every process and methodology within the cloud framework and those supporting it must help the business achieve desired outcomes.

It is important to clearly define cloud governance policies and make sure that all terms, benefits, and challenges of the policy are understood by all. This is even more important for organizations transitioning to the cloud as challenges and unknowns are high here.

As the first step in cloud migration, businesses must draft and convey the business objectives across the organization. Otherwise, this will result in disenchantment where the IT operations team is likely to operate and maintain an obscure cloud framework with business objectives that are either vague or completely unknown.

2. Enforce strong security and access management policies

Disregarding security can be a great mistake as cloud environments encompass numerous connected devices and tool integrations, which creates more opportunities for cybercriminals to attack.
Averting security incidents is essential as it allows organizations to maintain a secure and efficient cloud ecosystem. This can be done by:

• Putting in place a DevSecOps model that blends security into all phases of development and operations.
• Detecting vulnerable defects during the early stages of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) using a left testing approach.
• Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools for authentication and authorization control.
• A security-as-code model that codifies security policies for automated delivery.

With centralized cloud security policy management, organizations can build a model that can proactively mitigate risks and help gain insights into flaws and failures.

3. Minimize resource usage and costs

Cost optimization is critical for every business to increase its bottom line. IT teams can reduce costs with a strong governance mechanism in place that can help identify and eliminate idle resources and optimize the size of computing services.

The need is also for a policy framework that adopts practices such as discarding underutilized or unattached resources, designing applications that spin up resources on demand, leveraging heatmap tools, such as AWS CloudWatch, and planning out the usage of reserved instances for greater cost benefit.

So as to make this cost-efficient approach sustainable, one must blend and evolve these resource utilization practices across other practices.

4. Emphasis on audit and compliance

Customer data safety and protection are becoming mainstream for regulatory purposes and company standards.

Cloud governance must define tools, processes, and personnel responsible for enforcing compliance within an existing workflow. Further, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) must equally adapt to a proven demonstration of regulatory requirements compliance, scope, and responsibilities.

Organizations can take additional actions to embed compliance, such as using a policy-as-code model that automates policy execution within a delivery pipeline. They can also include procedures for conducting frequent audits to embed compliance.

5. Automation for accelerated delivery

Automation is one of the key elements that can act as the enabler as well as the outcome in any efficient cloud framework. Effective automation governance must enforce the adoption of tools, processes, and methodologies that help further automation. Such practices include the adoption of a DevOps model to automate delivery and integration, using tools for automated monitoring and alerts, enabling a container-based orchestration, and implementing persistent storage, databases, web servers, and virtual networks for faster application delivery.

An organization can increase cost benefits and prevent human errors by automating recurring processes.

Cultivate and maintain a well-structured cloud framework

Processes and procedures surely influence the efficiency of an organization’s cloud setup. The underlying architecture, too, is impacted.

Organizations must adapt and follow core principles that ensure that cloud-based applications are agile and resilient. Some of the fundamental practices of a well-architected framework fundamental practices are as below:

• Operational excellence: To make workloads run efficiently, it’s best to perform all operations as code, develop apps incrementally with small changes, and refine processes frequently.
• Security: Implement strong identity and access control to secure applications.
• Performance efficiency: Use serverless platforms that bring operational efficiency. Deploy workloads across multiple regions to reduce latency.
• Reliability: Have distributed workloads and utilize only the resources required for production workloads to allow Reliable applications to recover automatically.
• Cost optimization: Use cloud financial tools to help monitor resource usage and expenditure.

Conclusion

The approach to cloud governance varies, depending on the domain and organization. The above-mentioned best practices form the foundation for any successful cloud computing framework.

As for organizations opting for the cloud, a thorough assessment must be made of business macros, resources at hand, and personnel skills. These are the key factors that influence a seamless and successful migration.

• The traditional castle-and-moat approach to creating a security perimeter has proved ineffective.
• Micro-segmentation builds secure zones across the cloud and data center environments to isolate application workloads from each other and secure them individually.

Cybercrimes have become so common in recent times: According to reports, in the last 12 months, nearly 53% of companies have become victims of cybercrime. This has created panic among the public as it has become all too common.

In a bid to maintain pace with today’s software-defined and cloud computing paradigms, enterprise networks ought to be agile, intelligent, secure, programmable, and built with automation and integrated analytics.

This is where micro-segmentation as a solution helps prevent such crimes by allowing IT departments to deploy flexible security policies in data centers and cloud systems, using network virtualization technology without having to install multiple firewalls. But wait, what is it, and how does it do all of this? This blog will cover all about micro-segmentation, its relevance, challenges, benefits, and more.

What is micro-segmentation?

Micro-segmentation is a granular security method to manage network access between workloads. It builds secure zones across the cloud and data center environments to isolate application workloads from each other and secure them individually.

This security method permits administrators to manage security policies and limits traffic based on the principle of least privilege and Zero Trust.

Firewall policies limit east-west traffic between workloads to reduce attack surfaces, prevent the lateral movement of threats to contain breaches, and strengthen regulatory compliance.

It can also be referred to as application segmentation or east-west segmentation in a multi-cloud data center.

Why is Micro-segmentation relevant today?

As per Ponemon Institutes’ 2019 Coast of a Data Breach Study, the average data breach cost is around USD 3.92 million, and the average time to identify and contact a data breach is 279 days.

The study and statistics showcase a massive gap in security and its practices that allows hackers to penetrate a network and stay undetected for an extended time – long enough to infiltrate other firewalls and exfiltrate other data.

With the threat landscape changing continuously, hackers have also found new and innovative ways to hack firewalls. The traditional castle-and-moat approach to creating a security perimeter has proved ineffective against threats that can easily breach the perimeter.

With more and more companies considering migrating applications to the cloud and providing ecosystem partners access to the applications, it is becoming difficult for security professionals to define a perimeter.

The perimeter was initially based on the premise that the threat would originate outside the network. This is why most perimeter security solutions like IPS, IDS, or Firewalls prime focus only on North-South traffic.

However, over 75% of network traffic is from the East-West or server-to-server, which is mainly invisible to security teams.

Any threat infiltrating the network can move laterally and remain without being detected or even for months.

What are the primary challenges that micro-segmentation faces?

Micro-segmentation is the application of granular firewall policy controls using the host workload firewall as the enforcement point across any workload type.

Policy lifecycle management is the most challenging aspect of adopting a micro-segmentation policy that adapts to support changes to applications and businesses.

It’s advisable to implement micro-segmentation at the macro level. Further, it should be refined continually through policy automation, leveraging application and workload context and behavior.

Micro-segmentation best practices:

Implementing the right strategies and practices is a sine-qua-non for an effective micro-segmentation initiative. The best practices for the success of your organization are as follows:

Map your network architecture: Effective micro-segmentation requires organizations to comprehensively understand their network architecture to correctly identify, configure, and enforce security policies that support the micro-segmentation initiative. It is also recommended to have an inventory of the current infrastructure and documentation of network architecture to understand the network architecture thoroughly. This will provide the blueprint to initiate investing traffic behavior and approach policy discovery.

Observe traffic behavior and communication patterns: As part of mapping your network architecture, it’s essential to observe the current state of the network to uncover communication patterns and typical traffic behavior. Organizations can now write secure policies that protect and enforce east-west traffic based on a clear understanding of the typical traffic flow. Having an idea of these behaviors will help avoid blind spots and gaps in security.

Take a phased approach: Micro-segmentation is a phased process and must not be rushed. A phased approach is the best as it gives optimal results. Organizations can start with the segmentation project in stages, beginning with broad network segmentation based on zones, then establishing application-based segmentation policies, and eventually working on the granular micro-segmentation policies. This will simplify the implementation and enhance security as well.

What are the benefits of micro-segmentation?

The presence of the cloud continues to draw companies from their traditional methods of storing data. The cloud has multiple benefits, and they are:

• Reduce attack surface: Micro-segmentation gives a complete view of the entire network environment without hampering development or innovation. This allows application developers to integrate security policy definitions early in the development cycle. This also ensures that neither application deployments nor updates create new attack vectors.
• Enhanced containment of breaches: With micro-segmentation, security teams can monitor network traffic against predefined policies. They can also minimize the time to respond to and remediate data breaches.
• Full-proof regulatory compliance: With the help of micro-segmentation, regulatory officers can develop policies that isolate systems conditioned to the regulations from the rest of the infrastructure.
• Simplify policy management: A micro-segmented network solution helps simplify policy management as many offer automated application discovery and policy suggestions based on learned application behavior.

Wrapping it up

With more and more organizations adopting the cloud, the network, too, is growing larger and becoming more complex. The foremost challenge for the security teams is to monitor traffic and implement policies to maintain a consistent security posture.

A micro-segmentation framework based on software is a boon for security teams as it gives them deep visibility into the network architecture. They can also go granular with segmentation to reach the host level and enforce policies that could follow workloads across distributed and dynamic environments. This enables a consistent, proactive defense against advanced cyber threats businesses face today.