Many companies have limited transparency of the true scale and dependencies they have accumulated on both Cloud infrastructure providers, Software as a Service solutions and the many simple web-based services or data offerings that are being leveraged to operate their businesses.
Although the major services may be documented and understood, there are likely to be many 100’s if not 1,000’s of minor technology or data solutions being incorporated into a business’s day-to-day operations with limited transparency.
The reason for this is historically, deploying solutions required a formal software change lifecycle to enable any services to be deployed to an end-user process. However, with the advent and scope of simple internet-based services that require a simple sign-up process, many organisations may have inadvertently grown significant dependencies, adding further complexity to their day-to-day operations as these services become embedded in the operating models.
Often this is not well understood or documented due to easy with which these services can be deployed and adopted.
Ultimately, this can create an many unseen business risks and dependencies including vendor service level management challenges, potential data exposure and cyber threats which can expose firms to services delivery risks, reputational risks and potential regulatory sanctions.
At oortcloud, we believe having detailed policies, a complete inventory of all service dependencies and appropriate controls is crucial to maintaining a properly managed environment. We support companies, with a comprehensive framework to help leaders manage and oversee their environments to mitigate these threats.