cloud management
swallowed up just trying to keep
the business afloat, leaving you
with very little resources to deliver
innovations that move the business
forward – or worse – inadequate
policy and recovery management
could mean vulnerabilities will be
lost in the forest of the system and
only detected when it’s far too late.
The right tools for the job
IT teams need to consider which
tools are required to ensure
effective policy management
and on demand recovery. Quick
response time needs to be a given
if users and groups are deleted
accidentally or maliciously.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
management tools really help
to achieve this in Azure Active
Directory (AD) and Office 365
environments. A consistent
interface with secure control is
necessary because who has time to
train admin staff to navigate all the
changing interfaces?
Utilising AD groups to set
policies means they can be
dynamically maintained. Having
visibility into changes made to
our Azure AD users, attributes,
groups and group membership
gives organisations the resources
to quickly find where unwanted
deletions or additions were made,
ensuring easy and fast restoration
of any unsolicited alterations.
Going forward, organisations will
want a one-stop shop that is easy,
safe to use and is completely
audit-ready.
One of the biggest challenges
IT managers face is how to
identify and understand the
scope of a breach once it occurs. It
is reported that it takes companies
an average of six months to spot
an intrusion and another 55 days
to contain it. But, with adequate
tools in place, managers can
prevent circumstances that put the
company at risk in the first place,
find when the issue occurred and
restore it to a good state. Honing
user access and enforcing policies
that keep the organisation safe for
internal as well as federated users,
gives admins and managers peace
of mind.
‘Any
business
contemplating
a transition
to the cloud
will need
to consider
what data
will be
managed,
who owns it
and who has
permission
to access it.’
Investment is key
All too often IT managers are
saddled with firefighting. There is
never enough time in the day yet
there is more pressure than ever
to protect your data. Avoiding
all issues is impossible but the
responsibility to protect data –
especially personal or sensitive
data, is making smarter prevention
an imperative.
By adopting a holistic approach
and by investing time in planning,
you can ensure you and your team
stand out by spending less time
managing your environment and
more time building a data-driven
business, which will pay dividends
later down the line.
By introducing a tool suite
that prevents issues before they
occur and gets you back on track
if they do, you’ll be able to better
manage your infrastructure in
a dynamic way that means less
firefighting in the future. This
not only guarantees a happier
workforce, but allows you and the
business to focus on growth and
importantly, innovation.
September 2017 | 39