Cloud Risk Management

Cloud is no longer hype, it is a reality. It is not the domain of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or technical teams any longer but, in the heartland of the business. Its relevance belongs to its ability to bring pace and agility to all functions. The rewards of cloud come with risk and therefore, require careful management.

An effectively delivered cloud strategy with appropriate cloud risk management could generate operational efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction by driving business growth via enhancing collaboration.

However, there are also challenges to the cloud that need to be considered such as getting value for money, managing the cloud provides, cloud governance, compliance and regulatory requirements, and the possible skills shortage in Cloud management capabilities.

We have a track record of helping clients on their cloud journey based on our in-depth experience gained from working with organisation of all sizes, from all industries and sectors. Our approach to Cloud Risk Management is founded on proven experience of providing the right intervention at the right time to make a difference to your business.

We have developed an 8 step methodology (highlighted in the diagram opposite) to confirm that the cloud service being considered does not expose your organisation to unnecessary heightened risk, and if it does, the risks are appropriately assessed and mitigated.

When to act

You are making a significant cloud related change or embarking upon transformation
You are creating a cloud strategy and require thought leadership
You need to determine your cloud readiness and which services should be migrated first
You are about to outsource or are reviewing outsource arrangements
Your regulator has started to focus on outsource arrangements and the resilience of your critical services
You need to discover, scope and plan for effective risk management of enterprise cloud services in preparation for GDPR
An appropriate level of service is not being provided by the cloud provider

What good looks like

Your cloud strategy is aligned to long term business objectives
Your new cloud hosted infrastructure is scalable, resilient and has appropriate security controls in place
The business is cloud ready and have developed a clear plan for transitioning to the target old operating model
Your cloud services are meeting regulatory and compliance requirements
The contractual obligations of your cloud providers are robust and clearly aligned with your business expectations
You are aware of all cloud services being used across the organisation

Proven methods and experience across the end to end cloud lifecycle
Leverage our thought leadership and industry trends to help build your cloud strategy that meets long-term business objectives
Analyse the business case and costs to ensure business benefits are realistic and achievable
We can assess your organisation’s readiness for the cloud and determine which services you should migrate first

Review the contractual agreements in place with your cloud provider to ensure they are appropriate
Providing a pre-implementation assessment to ensure the service will meet business requirements, has appropriate security controls, and is scalable and resilient
Develop a clear roadmap for implementing the transition from the old operating model, which will be transformed by the introduction of cloud capabilities
The approach to maintaining the services following the conclusion of the projects

Establish governance of the cloud initiative and day-to-day operations in order to manage both simultaneously, and to prioritise and resolve conflicts
Ensuring cloud services used are meeting regulatory and compliance requirements
Identify cloud services being used across the organisation using our cloud discovery tool