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Public Cloud Optimization Takes Focus

By Anu Subramanian, CTO of CloudCheckr

2021 has been a year that held many optimistic outlooks in its hands. After a turbulent and unpredictable 2020, this year set the stage for a ‘rebalancing act’. However, many organizations did more than just regain their footing in 2021. As public cloud adoption experienced a massive uptick throughout the early stages of the pandemic to support remote environments, many innovations were born out of the increased demands for supporting and optimizing these new (and existing) cloud deployments.

As we look ahead to 2022, we need to acknowledge the tremendous responsibility of sustaining the rapid advancements made over the past few years.

• Cloud adoption will continue to increase with a focus on innovation. There has been a strong increase in organizational spend in the public cloud and that is only projected to continue in the coming year. While some organizations have been running their cloud environments for years, others only made the decision to migrate after realizing that the cloud could enable better business continuity, such as via remote work, or unlock innovation through the easy access of technologies offered through cloud services. AI and automation, for example, and the need to mitigate continued challenges such as the strained supply chain, will also contribute to the boost in cloud spend in 2022.

• Cybersecurity will become a team sport. With an increased number of active endpoint devices, rising digital transformation projects, the constant introduction of new technologies and the increased organization among malicious actors and groups, cybercriminal activity in 2021 continued to surge. In 2022, leadership teams that oversee public cloud strategy will put their focus towards bolstering their environments in a more proactive manner by embedding security operations within the broader cloud operations umbrella, allowing developers, engineers and architects to think about cloud security as part of their day-to-day activities and longer term strategies.

• Utilizing automation to optimize public cloud environments will drive business success. With the complexities of modern cloud computing, monitoring and upkeep of a cloud deployment will require a level of manpower that is unrealistic for any team, no matter how large. The organizations that will be most successful will be those that look to automation to enable them to govern their cloud deployments at all hours of the day – be it optimizing cost, scaling resources or checking for security issues. Implementing a cloud strategy that makes use of automation will free teams from the mundane task of monitoring and allow them to use that time on accelerating business value in other areas.

Altogether, in 2022 we’ll see an increase in cloud enabled innovation, a renewed focus on cybersecurity measures and a heavier dependence upon automation technology. 2020 was a year that asked many questions and 2021 sought to answer as many as it could. Moving into 2022, adoption of wholly new technologies and keeping up with the advancements made to existing technology strategy will both be critical. We will see businesses grow more well-versed in their cloud environments and their ability to optimize their cloud environments to best meet their individual organizational needs.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anu Subramanian, CTO at CloudCheckr

As Chief Technology Officer, Anu Subramanian is responsible for leading CloudCheckr’s product strategy and execution. Anu has spent the last 20+ years building and leading world-class teams that have brought innovative software solutions to the market. She is very proud of her roots as an engineer. Most recently, Anu was VP of Engineering at Veracode, an application security testing company. Previously, Anu led Engineering at Confer, a cybersecurity startup. Confer was acquired by Carbon Black in 2016. Prior to Confer, Anu held leadership roles at Carbonite and Cisco.