Businesses have long approached cloud, connectivity, and security in a piecemeal fashion, contracting with separate vendors for each individual service. While this may seem like the most straightforward way to address these three pillars of IT infrastructure, it’s actually the exact opposite.
This tactic often results in a lack of interoperability between different solutions, making it nearly impossible to achieve the desired outcomes. The burden then falls on customers to manage multiple contracts and interfaces and stitch together disparate – and possibly incompatible -components that were never designed to work together. A hefty burden when you consider that just 8% of technologists have extensive experience using cloud-related tools.
But the complications don’t stop there.
This fragmented approach means customers are responsible for the security of their own systems in the cloud. Unfortunately, a skills gap exists there as well, with the (ISC)2 2022 workforce study revealing a global cybersecurity workforce gap of 3.4 million people – an increase of 26% more than 2021.
If something goes wrong within one component or vendor solution, it’s much harder to pinpoint the origin of the problem since there are so many moving parts. For example, an organization may have a cloud component delivered by one vendor and the connectivity and security components delivered by another. When issues related to web facing services arise, each vendor will point to the other to fix the problem. This finger pointing creates delays, causes frustration across the board, and ultimately impacts the business trying to deliver services and/or products to their end customer. Considering the growing number of software supply chain attacks – 742% average annual increase over the past three years – this is the last thing you need to be thinking about.
Given the evolving business landscape, companies now require more than just basic cloud computing services; they need comprehensive expertise across all three pillars – cloud computing as well as connectivity and security – if they want their data to stay secure and available. However, it’s getting harder and harder to find the resources and personnel with the right skill sets to handle the job effectively.
So, what’s the solution? Simple: embrace a strategy that puts cloud, connectivity, and security under a single umbrella.
Why integrate the pillars under one roof?
For starters, seamless integration. With this approach, businesses can maximize their infrastructure capabilities without worrying about complications associated with disjointed methods from multiple vendors.
Then there are the value-added benefits, starting with a streamlined pricing structure with billing support, provisioning, etc. This makes it easier to manage and monitor end to end while reducing the risk of errors and vulnerabilities. It simplifies processes as well, letting you focus on core competencies rather than managing multiple, disparate vendors.
From a security standpoint, going with a single provider ensures that all components are designed to work together from day one. Layers of your security architecture are brought together, and all components have been tested to work seamlessly. There’s also a single point of contact for support and security-related concerns, which improves response time, reduces mean time to resolution (MTTR), and ensures accountability in case something goes wrong.
Furthermore, one provider managing all aspects of the infrastructure can ensure more effective disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) planning by designing systems with appropriate resiliency and recovery point and recovery time objectives (RTO and RPO). This means that even if one region goes down or experiences downtime, other locations remain unaffected because of purposeful disconnections between each location.
But what about vendor lock-in?
The most common pushback to this strategy is vendor lock-in. And it’s a valid concern. There’s always risk when you “put all your eggs in one basket.”
However, the right provider will offer systems that are open, transparent, and standardized, not proprietary or obfuscated, making it easy to move off their platform if necessary.
How to maximize this approach
Committing to a unified approach to cloud, connectivity, and security is just the first step. To get the most out of the strategy, consider the following:
- Assess your needs. Take stock of your current IT infrastructure and identify areas that require improvement or streamlining. Look at how your business operates and determine where cloud computing can be used effectively. Think about your current workloads, interdependencies, downtime tolerance, and your most critical pieces.
- Evaluate provider capabilities. Choose a provider that has extensive experience in cloud computing, connectivity, and security. Make sure they have knowledge of the latest technological advancements and best practices in each area, can offer end-to-end solutions that meet your needs, have a history of delivering projects on time, and have earned certifications and accreditations to ensure they’re credible and trustworthy. Transparency is paramount.
- Get a grip on the dollars and cents. Evaluate pricing structures thoroughly to ensure you are getting the best value for your investment. Consider all cost-related factors such as egress, transaction or other such charges, and less obvious (almost) hidden fees that may not be apparent upfront.
- Check for incident readiness. Make sure the provider has the ability, credibility, and experience to deliver effective DR and BC solutions to mitigate potential downtime or failures.
- ‘Connect’ the dots. Connectivity is often an afterthought. Don’t make that mistake. Understand who is providing the wires, what systems are interacting with them, and where your users are located. This includes considering bandwidth, latency, and other factors that can impact a workload’s functionality.
- Simplify your connection. Software-defined networking (SD-WAN) can help simplify connectivity between offices or remote workers while maintaining quality of service over the internet. However, make sure your provider knows how to maintain quality of service and ensure those internet-based connections can provide the same level of reliability as fixed connections.
- Apply security to all facets. Security must be approached with a solution architecture mindset and integrated with cloud and connectivity solutions from the outset. Evaluate what needs to be monitored and what tools are required to protect against threats. Compliance requirements must also be considered, including the need for data retention policies and adherence to specific regulations.
- Prepare for the future. As your business grows, so will your infrastructure needs. Choose a provider that can scale their services to meet the demands of your growing business.
New approach, better results
Organizations that continue to operate with a siloed approach to cloud, connectivity, and security are bound to face inefficiencies, gaps in coverage, and higher costs.
By rethinking cloud, connectivity, and security as interconnected pillars of a seamless whole, organizations can improve their outcomes and address challenges that have been holding them back.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MARC BEDER, REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF APAC, 11:11 Systems
Marc previously held the role of VP of Solutions Architecture at iland and as Regional Director of APAC, he leads the company’s growth and expansion efforts in APAC. A highly accomplished and driven technology leader, Beder has over 18 years of experience covering many aspects of IT including strategy, enterprise architecture, solution architecture, product development, project and service delivery and commercial modeling.
