Organisations are facing many ongoing operational challenges that can impact cyber resilience. From a shortage of technical skills to rising cyber security costs and an evolving threat landscape, new challenges are creating new priorities for IT teams and business leaders.

In response, many businesses understand the need to secure their digital futures by shifting to always-on cloud operations and applications. Other priorities include procuring solutions in simple, cost-effective ways, increasing visibility across IT estates and adopting more managed services to free-up resources.

However, managing a diverse and growing network brings difficulties. Difficulties that must be overcome to fully unlock the power of cloud computing and achieve a frictionless hybrid working model without compromising on security.

That means balancing changing business needs and the existing security environment. Everything an employee touches needs to be secured. But you don’t need to make great strides to see positive outcomes. In fact, your approach should be just as individual as your business.

How the pandemic impacted cloud adoption

Digital transformation has been taking place at an increasing rate for many years now. But come 2020, businesses were forced to accelerate their shift to cloud-based platforms with little notice or planning to survive.

Decisions and changes were made at such speed to support access by users offsite, that security considerations were diluted, if not completely removed in some cases.

So, as we move towards a long-term hybrid working model and learn to live alongside COVID-19, the pace of cloud adoption will naturally slow down. Yet, it will continue to increase, just at a slower pace as organisations carefully review what they have.

With more assets sat in the cloud, organisations need a common security approach that wraps around data, whether they’re sat onsite or at an offsite location. It’s also important to understand that moving applications and data to the cloud does not mean the host platform is responsible for their security.

As cloud strategies mature, we can also expect more organisations to lean on expert partners and vendors to support them in getting the most out of their cloud environments while keeping security robust. This will also help those who may not have or may not want to have security skills on site.

Moving towards an integrated approach to cloud security

In many instances, multi-cloud deployments fall short of providing visibility across and between solutions. This is due to disjointed management tools from multiple vendors which can create gaps in visibility and control, upping the risk level.

The ultimate goal, is to adopt a common security approach that wraps around data depending on whether it is sat onsite or offsite.

To unlock more opportunities from cloud platforms and keep multi-cloud environments secure, businesses must first take stock. This will help to achieve a 360-degree view of what you have and assess whether you’re making the best of your cloud environment and security tools.

Consider how cloud platforms communicate and connect with each other, and where gaps in security or user experience may exist between modern and legacy systems. After all, security should be consistent when interacting with data no matter where it is accessed and stored.

When expanding your multi/hybrid cloud environment, opt for an integrated security model supported by one platform or vendor. This will help you bring security under one roof, maximise visibility and threat detection, plan new purchases within this ecosystem and ensure systems are fully integrated for greater efficiency and return on investment.

A cloud security platform organically built from the ground up around a common operating system and management framework will enable seamless interoperability and support great user experience.

It will also give IT teams granular control over their entire infrastructure and offer automated detection and prevention of threats early in the attack cycle. Additional benefits include having a single system to detect and respond in a coordinated and timely fashion, and broad integration with all cloud platforms and third-party solutions for easy set-up and control.

Organisations must also have the foresight to think more long-term about their cloud environments and how to keep them secure. This will pivot teams away from reacting to threats, vulnerabilities, and breaches to a more proactive approach to cloud security that keeps one step ahead of the changing threat landscape.

A cybersecurity approach to call your own

Softcat does more to protect your world. By really getting to know your business, we can review, analyse, streamline, plan, and support the evolution of modern working patterns. That’s how we’re able to wrap a security layer around your exact business, people, devices, and digital workspaces.

We provide the modernisation boost you need. By releasing longer-term value, connecting independent technologies, and enabling confident, secure working, your security environment can always go one better, protecting your teams and data no matter when or where.