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Cloud Cost Management: Tips & Best Practices

Posted in: cloud, cloud costs, cloud management, cloud management service, Cloud Virtualization - Aug 09, 2021

Today, most businesses have some or all of their data stored on the cloud. Now that so many companies have adopted this strategy, many want to know: how can a company find optimal and efficient ways to manage cloud costs and cloud services?

Getting the most out of cloud cost management, cloud tools, and best practices often means outsourcing cloud costs and IT teams for most companies. Outsourcing these expenditures can help any firm manage its bottom line.

What Is Cloud Cost Management?

Cloud cost management helps businesses understand and manage costs based on their individual cloud technology needs. Many contributing factors can affect cloud costs, including memory usage, storage, network traffic, usage of web services, and things like IT personnel and software licenses.

Therefore, a cloud cost management strategy will typically take these factors into account.

Is Cloud Cost Important for Businesses?

Anything that can help a company control its spending while maximizing its resources is a benefit in both the short and long term. With cloud cost management, users can reduce unneeded spending while helping to plan for the future.

Keeping track of cloud costs can become complicated, and it’s easy for costs to become exorbitant — especially if the company pays based on its usage. So even if your company has strong IT, outsourcing cloud management could be the best solution for cloud cost management.

Outsourcing Cloud Cost Management

Outsourcing cloud costs can have many benefits for most businesses. When relying on an outsourced data facility with IT staff, almost any company will reduce its cloud cost expenses. That said, there are other reasons why an organization would want to rely on someone else for its cloud cost management best practices.

When a company outsources cloud costs, they can expect a few things:

Better Performance and IT Expertise

Experienced managed service providers work with companies to implement a customized cloud solution that fits business goals while ensuring updated compliance and security. If a company is small — or has a small IT staff — they may not know how to deliver and maintain cloud cost management best practices.

An outsourced cloud service provider offers expertise and reduced costs while planning, implementing, performing data migration, and regular maintenance.

Reduced Costs

An outsourced cloud system can help reduce in-house IT costs, allowing a business to focus more on IT strategy.

But a company can save on more than just IT costs. For example, the average lifespan of the computing equipment needed tends to be three to five years. That means a company will have to replace or upgrade costly equipment quite often.

In addition, the company will need to have experienced IT personnel, server admins, and engineers, all while paying for an on-site data center. As a result, a company can accrue unnecessary costs for data storage. Said data can be quickly moved to a cloud and, in turn, experience decreased upfront and future management costs.

Companies can drastically reduce their cloud cost management by relying on an outsourced staff and data facility.

Increased Security

A company needs to maintain cloud security while having the proper access to controls, real-time monitoring, and vulnerability management. If a company doesn’t specialize in IT, it’s more likely they will make mistakes that could lead to vulnerabilities.

With an outsourced cloud provider, a company doesn’t have to worry as much about personally dealing with hackers or other security breaches. In addition, any reputable cloud provider will have the ability to pass compliance audits, which can be costly for a company of any size to manage on its own.

If any general problems arise, the cloud company can usually handle them without a business dipping into its own resources.

What if a Company Has Multiple Clouds?

If your company uses multiple clouds, a multi-cloud management system is a set of tools that will help secure and monitor applications from across several public clouds.

According to Flexera, “92% of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy; 82% have a hybrid cloud strategy, using both public and private clouds.”

More and more companies are seeing the benefit of a multi-cloud strategy, as they can pick and choose their services, tailoring them to fit their needs. A multi-cloud system also allows entities to choose where they will host these solutions.

Public Cloud Providers

Public cloud providers give a business the option to decide what resources fit their needs, and it’s no wonder public cloud adoption continues to accelerate.

For example, public clouds offer a company communication services. Providers like Google, AWS, and Azure provide the services needed to address peak demand, as well as perform IT and other business operations.

In general, an organization should choose a provider close to their office to improve network performance.

Is Cloud Spending Increasing?

In short, yes. According to Gartner, “Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 23.1% in 2021 to total $332.3 billion, up from $270 billion in 2020.” In 2021, companies are seeing higher-than-expected cloud usage due to COVID-19, while most struggle to control their growing cloud spending.

The pandemic has accelerated spending as more businesses put more extensive workloads on the cloud. As the need for more virtual space increases, you can expect cloud management to keep growing in both size and importance.

Many factors contribute to cloud costs, and those factors are constantly shifting. However, managing cloud costs can be as simple as outsourcing an enterprise’s cloud cost management. By outsourcing, a business benefits from only paying for what they use, an expert IT staff, better performance, and increased security.

The post Cloud Cost Management: Tips & Best Practices appeared first on CIO Insight.

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5 Things to Look for in Your Next Data Science Platform

Posted in: Business Intelligence - Aug 09, 2021

Finding the right data science tools is paramount if your team is to discover business insight. Here are five things to look for when you search for your next data science platform. top

How COVID-19 Is Driving Digital Transformation

Posted in: Blogs, COVID, Covid-19, Digital Transformation, digital transformation challenges, digital transformation strategy, News & Trends - Aug 06, 2021

Without question, COVID-19 reshaped the technological world. The global pandemic drastically changed how businesses use technology, and has inspired innovations across sectors. Every industry needed to adjust to uncertainty more rapidly than at any time in history. This created a new wave of digital transformation.

At first, the pandemic overwhelmed every business. Industries like manufacturing, hospitality, and travel were among the hardest hit, though other industries rebounded. Today, advancements made over the past year are shaping how people work and communicate.

Teleconferencing

The need for video conferencing sky-rocketed for businesses and people during the early days of the pandemic, and Zoom jumped out as one of the leaders in communication. Zoom adopted a direct response to Covid-19. Zoom was nimble and fast enough to even take on Microsoft Teams and Skype.

According to a recent CNBC survey, 45% of companies plan to embrace a hybrid model in the second half of 2021. This means that enterprises will continue needing conferencing tools to connect with workers and customers worldwide.

Aside from Zoom and its competitors, collaboration and messaging apps are also seeing widespread adoption. Slack, Spark, Discord, and Signal, used by remote workers to meet the demand, serve as valuable tools.

PPE Production

The pandemic highlighted how unprepared the health care industry was for a global crisis. For one thing, the health care industry needed personal protective equipment (PPE) in massive quantities, which meant manufacturers and fulfillment centers had to adopt innovative supply-chain software to meet the greater demand.

Telemedicine

By early March 2020, HHS lead an initiative to expand telehealth services. This HIPAA-compliant software was primarily used by clinics and hospitals before COVID-19, but it gave the health care industry more tools to meet with patients virtually. Telehealth platforms like Teladoc, Mend, and MDLIVE provide flexibility to an overburdened health system.

Innovations in Pharmaceutical Production

Pharmaceutical companies have experienced some of the most significant changes over the past year. Government aid and innovations in supply chain management have given companies the ability to fast-track vaccines.

Further, the use of AI allows faster testing cycles. As a result, companies can create, test, and distribute their vaccines to the public more quickly and efficiently.

Technological innovations around using RNA in vaccines are also changing the landscape, according to Nature. Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis used techniques developed by DARPA. This rapid development of safe vaccines helped spur digital transformation in pharmaceutical technology.

Read more: AI Software Trends for 2021

Streaming

The public’s consumption of media grew exponentially in 2020, leading to a surge in the use of cloud-based streaming services. As more people were isolated at home, subscriptions to services like Apple TV, Prime Video, and Hulu soared.

According to VEXXHOST, “Cloud computing allows streaming platforms to leverage storage and data to ensure the highest viewing quality for consumers.”

High-Speed Internet

The need for high-speed connectivity for businesses, individuals, and students required the FCC to begin a “Keep Americans Connected Pledge campaign.”

Over eight hundred Internet service providers met the challenge by increasing available bandwidth with new infrastructure, or offering internet service for free.

Protecting Privacy

Because so many workers are now working from home, combatting fraud and protecting privacy has never been more important.

The FTC “developed a public dashboard to track and alert the public to shifts in COVID-related reports from consumers, identify and respond to emerging threats, and identify law enforcement targets.” The dashboard, hosted on Tableau, provides up-to-date data to help businesses and individuals spot spikes in fraud and identity theft.

Misinformation

Early on 2020, bad actors began widely circulating misinformation around COVID-19 and vaccines. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms wrestled with fact-checking, adjusting their algorithms that spot and eliminate bot accounts.

According to the Journal of Medical Internet Research, the social media algorithms that combat bots today are modeled on “early attempts to identify spam emails, social phishing, and other types of cybercrimes.”

Platforms have adapted this technology to fight against social herding bots that spread misinformation. Further, these companies have undertaken initiatives to informing the public and provide fact-checking tools.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many businesses. However, this crisis has spurred digital transformation in countless organizations. Hopefully, this revolution will continue after the pandemic ends and foster positive change.

The post How COVID-19 Is Driving Digital Transformation appeared first on CIO Insight.

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7 Things to Know About Low-Code Development Platforms

Posted in: development, IT Strategy, Leadership, low-code, low-code platforms - Aug 04, 2021

What is one thing to know about low-code development platforms?

To help business owners fully understand low-code development, we asked low-code developers and business professionals to share their best insights on this question. From double-checking effects on page speed to being more user-friendly, there are several things to keep in mind about low-code development platforms for the growth of your business.

Here are seven things to know about low-code development platforms:

Verify Customization Possibilities

As a low-code development platform, Comidor offers truly custom applications and integration. We are professional developers who write thousands of lines of code, so we can offer our clients low-code tools that require no development skills.

Our low-code programming is enabled with workflow automation, Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. All these features come together to help our clients utilize Comidor‘s low-code platform for easier low-code app development and cost reduction.

Spiros Skolarikis, Comidor

Not All Applications Are the Same

The main thing to know about low-code development platforms is that they are not all the same. The term “low-code” covers a wide range of applications and products, from simple templates that allow users to create forms or reports with little or no coding, to full-fledged development environments with visual programming languages and tools to develop fully functional applications.

If you are used to one platform, you won’t automatically find your way around another. Much comes down to experience and trial and error.

Peter Thaleikis, Developer

Possess a Variety of Uses

One thing to know about low-code development platforms is that they’re great for marketing. As a content marketer, I try to stay up-to-date with marketing trends, and low-code is something marketers can take advantage of. Low-code allows marketing teams to put together applications without using valuable IT resources.

Using a low-code content management system with a fresher content architecture simplifies the idea-to-deployment process. Last but not least, low-code platforms allow for more automation and increased productivity when it comes to marketing. At first glance, low-code doesn’t seem like a marketing tool, but when you think about it, it really is.

Francesca Nicasio, Payment Depot

Low-Code Development Is More User-Friendly

Low-code, in my opinion, is software development using a visual drag-and-drop interface. The concept is basic, and the user interface is intuitive. Yet the outcomes are scalable, safe, and fast. Lowering the quantity of “hand coding” (creating code from scratch) and increasing the amount of code reuse and app development are the key goals of low-code development.

When you use a visual IDE to build a component, it’s straightforward to reuse that component in multiple contexts. You benefit from the initial speed of an IDE and then gain even greater speed by reusing the components created.

Eric Carrell, SurfShark

Developers Are Still Needed

A common misconception around low-code development platforms is that developers are no longer needed. Low-code platforms don’t replace developers. They simply can help drive higher productivity from developers by allowing them to deliver more deployments faster, and with less effort.

Before you begin calculating the cost savings of reducing the number of software engineers on staff, understand that low-code platforms aren’t a replacement. They’re just there to support.

Brett Farmiloe, Markitors

Some Basic Coding Skills Are Still Required

Low-code is not the same as no-code. While both provide visual modeling, no-code relies entirely on a visual user interface with no code writing necessary. And while low-code’s drag-and-drop features reduce the steps in the development process, it does involve some basic coding skills.

But with limited training, non-tech employees can build custom software applications to better meet customer demands in a matter of weeks or even days. And with less coding comes fewer issues, enabling non-IT teams to create secure applications that streamline business operations.

Shahzil Amin, WellBefore

Double-Check Effects on Page Speed

The low-code page builder I use for my website has enabled me to build out my site a lot over the last year, but my page speed and performance are not as high as they could be. An important thing to keep in mind is if a low-code solution will get you the results you need over time.

Wesley Jacobs, Apollo Medical Travel

The post 7 Things to Know About Low-Code Development Platforms appeared first on CIO Insight.

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What is Enterprise Security Management?

Posted in: cyber-threats, enterprise security management, ESM, IT security, Security, software failure - Aug 03, 2021

With enterprises moving towards new technologies to minimize costs and optimize resources, they face increased security risks as cybercriminals adopt new techniques to target BYOD devices, corporate networks, backend servers, and more. As a result, it has become crucial for stakeholders to understand how to balance the security management landscape with enterprise operations.

Organizations need to place more focus on enterprise security management (ESM) to create a security management framework so that they can establish and sustain security for their critical infrastructure. Enterprise security management is a holistic approach to integrating guidelines, policies, and proactive measures for various threats.

A Closer Look at ESM in the Enterprise

Understanding Enterprise Security Management

ESM pertains to all risks that may affect the core business of an organization. It includes failed software processes, inadvertent or deliberate mistakes committed by staff members, internal security threats, and external security threats. The concept also takes into account the following factors related to the security architecture framework.

Enterprise-Wide Compliance

The number of regulatory requirements can affect the end product/service delivery. The ESM framework aims to resolve conflicting business objectives, as well as fulfill regulatory and internal compliance requirements.

Business-Focused Outcome

In a standard ESM framework, security risks and company objectives drive the selection of security implementations. As it is a top-down architecture, it ensures the identification and control of all policies.

Clarity at Data-Infrastructure Level

The key challenge for the enterprise is to gain clarity and resolve conflicts pertaining to data privacy requirements, vulnerability vectors, and company objectives. The ESM approach to clarity enables the enterprise to gain transparency around the aforementioned, both at the infrastructure and data security level.

Transformation of Security at All Levels

ESM adopts the approach called “architecting a security framework at all levels” of an organization. It defines security capabilities from the governance level all the way through architecture, and involves planning to build, monitor, and deliver security within all organizational units, processes, and business functions.

Deploying an ESM Framework

All stakeholders will look to the CISO, CSO, or CIO to deploy and manage ESM frameworks, as well as the steps the organization is taking to reduce risk to the enterprise. How does a CIO integrate the ESM framework and cultivate a security culture that finds long-term success throughout the organization?

The answer lies in adopting a strategic approach towards enterprise security management. The following steps should be taken:

Patch Management

Software vulnerabilities are one of the leading issues in the enterprise environment. Patches are additional code to replace flaws in software. Patch management is part of the software development life cycle (SDLC) and can occur in any primary process of SDLC.

The importance of implementing patch management as a part of ESM is gaining value, especially due to a plethora of exfiltration and data breaches around the globe. Scanning and updating patches to prevent and mitigate undiscovered vulnerabilities is important and requires security management at all phases: QA, development, staging, and maintaining strict policies to avoid any unexpected events.

Threat Modeling

Who might attack the enterprise? Is it only cybercriminals, or nation-states as well? What about company insiders? Start thinking about the list of possible adversaries and get detailed, without ruling out outlandish ideas your team may come up with. Threat modeling requires the following steps:

Identification of security objectives
Company-wide survey
Decomposition
Identification of threats
Identification of vulnerabilities

Typically, a threat model takes longer to construct, but a sample structured list can be followed. Usually, the model is based on the following assumptions:

Data validation may enable SQL injection.
Authorization may fail, so authorization checks are required.
SSL should be used as the risk of eavesdropping is high.
Anti-caching directives should be implemented in HTTP headers, as the browser cache may contain man-in-the-middle vulnerabilities.

Architecture Principles

ESM never assumes that developing a threat model can provide sufficient risk mitigation for specific threats. It aims to deploy multiple controls in order to prevent and minimize damage while an enterprise responds. Architecture principles in ESM include the following:

Security Resiliency

Ensure security defenses throughout the organization by strengthening the resiliency of software, applications, networks, servers, and systems to recover from unforeseen circumstances.

Segregation

Security initiatives should be categorized into functional blocks, and organizational units will have distinct roles within each block to facilitate management and secure the critical infrastructure.

Regulatory Compliance and Efficiency

Industry best practices should be followed to achieve regulatory compliance. Efficient configuration throughout the infrastructure lifecycle and increased visibility will allow for faster troubleshooting, incident response, and auditing.

More on security auditing: Creating a Network Audit Checklist

Systemwide Confidentiality and Collaboration

Security controls need to include accepted levels of confidentiality, and effective infrastructure security will require correlation, collaboration, and sharing of information from all systemwide sources.

Risk Management

The compromise of R&D intelligence, customer data, and company secrets leads to the loss of millions of dollars in terms of trust, confidence, and monetary value. As such, enterprises must employ a risk management approach against targeted attacks.

Because conventional security implementations are no longer sufficient against techniques such as hacking, DDoS, botnet, state-sponsored espionage, and others, the latest ESM model includes the adoption of behavior detection and network virtualization to avoid becoming victims. It would be based on a custom defense strategy that utilizes a specific intelligence adapted to each enterprise and its potential attacker.

Additionally, risk management enforces stronger adoption of intelligence-based security solutions that are backed by reliable threat information sources. This will help enterprises to thwart attempts to vulnerabilities before patches are updated.

Combating DDoS and other attacks: Top Zero Trust Networking Solutions for 2021

MDM and Mobile Safety

With the inception of BYOD, many issues pertaining to data protection and control arise when an enterprise defines the lines between personal and corporate data. Other threats, such as data breaches through staff-owned devices and physical theft, are also an issue.

As a result, enterprise security management must address mobile device management (MDM) to protect enterprise data, devices, and apps. Administrators in the IT department should be able to centrally manage all device users from a centralized console, enabling visibility and increased mobile use safety.

SDN and IoT

In ESM, the security control layer needs to be centralized for different parts of the critical infrastructure. That is where software defined storage (SDS) and software defined networking (SDN) comes into play.

These two software strategies have been separated in the enterprise environment over the years, but need to come together in the future to deal with cyberthreats. Increased unity can reduce the damage across enterprise operational networks and industrial complexes.

Also, whatever air gaps and network segmentation methods an enterprise may have employed, there will be instances where the Internet of Things (IoT) intersects the enterprise network, and these touchpoints will be vulnerable to cyberattacks.

In fact, IoT can exacerbate the problem to a point where it gets messy to control internal and external networks and devices, especially when users are using all kinds of devices to access enterprise data stored in the cloud, BYOD applications, networks, and other places.

This means a hacker can get into a web-enabled device, and because of its connectivity with a corporate network, they can create a bridge to transfer malicious traffic back and forth.

These threats present an opportunity for enterprises to step in and implement security as a service in ESM for safeguarding those checkpoints and interactions, so the organization can continue to focus on gleaning security and corporate data.

Upgrading Your Security

The ESM market continues to change and grow, with a recent Markets and Markets study predicting a security and vulnerability management global market size of $15.5 billion by 2025. Companies will need to start investing to upgrade their security beyond checkbox implementations to achieve compliance-level protection. Enterprises keep IT security lean, in an attempt to cut operational costs.

ESM is a time-intensive exercise, and to keep every aspect of their company secure, organizations can’t afford to take any shortcuts. CIOs can use this information to make sure their organizations are adapting to the latest threats.

The post What is Enterprise Security Management? appeared first on CIO Insight.

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