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OVERCOME THE TOP 5 CLOUDMIGRATION OBSTACLESWITH IDENTITY ANDACCESS MANAGEMENTWHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION1
TABLE OF CONTENTSWhat’s Your Cloud Migration Strategy?45 Top Concerns of Migrating to the Cloud5Security and the Cloud6A Loss of Control7Maintaining Compliance in the Cloud8Scalability of Your IAM Solution9The Cost of MigrationAddress Your Migration Concerns with a Modern IAM Solution21011WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION
WHAT’S YOUR CLOUDMIGRATION STRATEGY?“Moving to the Cloud” continues to be a hot topic these days, with strong interest and discussionbetween IT and business leaders as they explore how best to maximize the benefits and minimize therisks of such a move.Research shows cloud migration is more than just conversation. The majority of organizations are wellon their way, migrating both applications and computing infrastructure to the cloud.Consider these statistics from a recent IDG survey on cloud computing: 45% of organizations have already moved their applications and computing infrastructureto the cloud.1 By the end of 2017, the average company expects to have moved 59% of their IT environmentto the cloud. More specifically, 28% in private cloud, 22% in public cloud, and 10% inhybrid cloud.As with any technology shift, there are many considerations and concerns surrounding a migrationto the cloud, like how your existing software licenses transfer, what type of “cloud” you might need,reliability, and as always, security.INVESTING IN THE RIGHT IAMSOLUTION. NEEDS TO BE AFOCAL POINT OF YOUR CLOUDMIGRATION STRATEGYToday, I want to introduce another perspective thatorganizations must consider, and that is the role Identityand Access Management (IAM) plays in migratingto the cloud. Modern IAM solutions facilitate cloudmigration, so investing in the right IAM solution orupgrading your existing legacy IAM system beforemaking such a move needs to be a focal point of yourcloud migration strategy.1. IDG Enterprise. (November 2016). 2016 IDG Enterprise Cloud Computing Survey. 6-idg-enterprise-cloud-computing-survey/WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION3
5 TOP CONCERNS OF MIGRATINGTO THE CLOUDThe top concerns organizations typically noted when considering moving to the cloud are security,control, compliance, scalability, and cost. No matter what type of business you are in—or yoursize, purpose, or location—these five concerns are been pretty consistent; however, the order ofimportance may shift, depending on the specific characteristics of your organization.Let’s explore these concerns—why they are important, how IAM relates to them, and howimplementing IAM before moving to the cloud helps reduce the concern (i.e risk) of each.4WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION
SECURITY AND THE CLOUDSecurity is a top concern of any organization, whether you are just beginning or well-established incloud services. This centers around not having full visibility into and/or control of every aspect ofthe entire IT infrastructure, knowing who has access to what, and general sharing responsibility ofsecurity with the cloud service provider. After all, an organization must trust that the provider hasdone due diligence to ensure proper security controls. And while worries regarding cloud security arebecoming less extreme, due to the world-class security measures of the major cloud service providers,security still remains a concern for organizations.IAM is a subset of the larger security discipline, providing critical administration, authentication,authorization, and audit functions. By making IAM a key focal point of your cloud migration strategy,you can reduce a significant portion of security concerns. Not only is it much easier and cheaper toincorporate security into your cloud migration strategy BEFORE making such a move, this ensuresproper security and access controls from day one.By having the right IAM solution in place before moving to the cloud, you enable your organization togrow and expand existing cloud services or adopt new services, without having to rebuild the world.You have a solid foundation in place that supports business growth with the same granular level ofsecurity and control.WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION5
BY MAKING IAM A KEY FOCALPOINT OF YOUR CLOUDMIGRATION STRATEGY, YOUCAN REDUCE A SIGNIFICANTPORTION OF SECURITYCONCERNS.6WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION
A LOSS OF CONTROLConcerns regarding a lack of control when moving to the cloud goes hand in hand with securityconcerns. Moving to the cloud can take control over some decisions regarding your cloud-based ITinfrastructure out of your hands, which can, in turn, lead to security concerns.IAM solutions ensure proper access controls and privilege management for the components ofthe cloud services to which they control and have visibility. IAM also empowers organizations toefficiently and consistently control who has access to each cloud service across your enterprise and towhat they have access.WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION7
MAINTAINING COMPLIANCEIN THE CLOUDFrom retail’s PCI compliance to healthcare’s HIPAA compliance to government’s CJIS and DFARScompliance, nearly every organization has some amount of regulatory compliance to consider. Havingan IAM solution in place for your local and cloud applications and services, enables your organizationto centrally manage access controls for people, devices, and data assets. You can define and configureyour organizational business and security policies in one place and consistently apply them acrossyour organization’s assets—no matter where they may be.Additionally, having central IAM controls streamlines an organization’s adoption and deployment ofmulti-factor authentication, which is critical for meeting regulatory compliance requirements.Most cloud service providers offer a wide array of compliance offerings that go well-beyond what anyindividual organization can accomplish on their own. IAM solutions pair extremely well with them andadd the additional, granular levels of control in order to meet even the the most stringent regulations.While IaaS providers can help organizations generally meet underlying infrastructure levelrequirements for compliance regulations like HIPAA, PCI, CJIS, or DFARS, you will still needed an IAMsolution in place to ensure that compliance carries over from Infrastructure to inside the applications.Having IAM in place before moving to the cloud makes it possible for your organization to beconsistently compliant during the initial migration, steady-state operations afterwards, and futurechanges and expansions.8WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION
SCALABILITY OF YOUR IAM SOLUTIONWhile cloud IaaS providers have excelled in the area of scalability, it’s also critical that your softwaresolutions, services, and systems—including IAM—will scale. Software solutions are typicallydesigned with a finite scope of usage, and when you go beyond that (i.e. scale), your solution maystruggle to meet business demands. Even if your software has grown without issue as employeeswere hired over the years, the rules change when you grow to different tiers. For instance, if youacquire a company and double your workforce, can your solution easily add twice as many users, data,and usage levels?WITHOUT THE RIGHTIAM SOLUTION IN PLACE,TECHNICAL LIMITATIONS ANDSECURITY, CONTROL, ANDCOMPLIANCE RISKS CANDRAMATICALLY LIMIT YOURORGANIZATION’S ABILITYTO SCALE AND ADAPT TOBUSINESS NEEDS.WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATIONYou must also take your organization itself intoconsideration—do your business processes andgovernance support scalability or would you hitnon-technical barriers as you grow? For example,could your hiring and onboarding processes scale ifyou needed to double your workforce due to a bigproject or acquisition?The IAM solution you have in place must support yourorganization’s cloud-based growth versus being a barrier.Without the right IAM solution in place, technicallimitations and security, control, and compliance riskscan dramatically limit your organization’s ability toscale and adapt to business needs.9
THE COST OF MIGRATIONCost is actually an easy one in contrast to what most people think. Moving to the cloud will almostalways be more cost-effective in the long-run than running and operating services on-premise. Thisis because of the sheer economies of scale that cloud IaaS and SaaS providers have. And while thereis typically a one-time, capital expense for doing the migration, once that step is completed, you arealmost guaranteed to save money.From an IAM perspective, there are long-term cost-savings as well. Having a single, centrallymanaged IAM solution is simply more cost-effective than managing IAM for each individualapplication, platform, and service—whether in the cloud or on-premise.Putting a modern IAM solution in place prior to migrating to the cloud further reduces cost becausethe security, control, and compliance processes are already in place. This significantly reduces thetime and effort required of your IT staff, thus, streamlining the move to the cloud and reducing thatone-time migration cost.10WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION
ADDRESS YOUR MIGRATIONCONCERNS WITH A MODERNIAM SOLUTIONThe top five concerns when moving to the cloud are not only interrelated among one another, butdirectly related to identity and access management. Having a strong and flexible IAM solution in placewill ease your migration to the cloud and streamline the deployment of the new cloud service, whilemaintaining the critical security, control, and compliance requirements your organization needs todayand in the future.WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION11
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYSamuel Carter (Sammie) is passionate about the design,development and use of innovative cyber security tools,systems, and services. As Training and DevelopmentManager, he leads Identity Automation’s internaland external training efforts that keep customers,employees, and partners knowledgeable about the latestRapidIdentity capabilities and services. He is a soughtafter presenter and regular blogger on identity andaccess management best practices.Feel free to send questions or comments about thiseBook to scarter@identityautomation.com.READ MORE FROM SAMMIE:RBAC vs ABAC Access Control ModelsSingle Sign-On vs Reduced Sign-OnConfiguration, Customization, or Out of the Box?12WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION
Contact Sales: sales@identityautomation.comContact Support: support@identityautomation.comOther information: info@identityautomation.comToll Free: 877-221-8401Voice: 281-220-0021Fax: 281-817-5579Corporate Headquarters:8833 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. W.Houston, TX 77064COPYRIGHT 2016, IDENTITY AUTOMATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION13
implementing IAM before moving to the cloud helps reduce the concern (i.e risk) of each. 5 TOP CONCERNS OF MIGRATING TO THE CLOUD. WHY IAM SOLUTIONS ARE A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO CLOUD MIGRATION 5 SECURITY AND THE CLOUD Security is a top concern of any organization, whether you are just beginning or well-established in
