Teleworking and Cloud Computing: IT teams are always taking on more responsibilities

The IT and IT security teams are now responsible for a greater number of functions. Why? Because corporate networks are expanding their footprint with the hybrid work of employees (employees who practice teleworking and face-to-face) and applications that move to cloud computing platforms.

For example, 52% of IT security professionals were not responsible for ensuring the safety of teleworkers five years ago. But are today. In addition, 46% are responsible for managing and securing applications on public cloud platforms or data in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environments. A function that was not part of their role five years ago, shows a study commissioned by Cloudflare.

Conducted by Forrester Consulting, the online survey interviewed 449 IT decision-makers around the world, including Europe.

An amazing 5-year comparison

The study shows that 53% of the people interviewed in the IT department have been entrusted with the task of ensuring regulatory compliance. Which they didn’t have to do five years ago.

And IT professionals are finding it increasingly difficult to manage these new tasks. 30% of them believe that managing and securing public cloud platforms and data in a SaaS environment is much more complex today than in 2020.

Nearly 40% recognized that they are losing control of their IT and security environments, and this in a context of increasing adoption of SaaS-based applications.

Increase in the number and types of users

66% of them indicated that the increase in the number of applications was the main reason for this loss of control. 62% cited the increase in the number of hosting sites for applications as a reason. In addition, 54% attributed the loss of control to the transition from on-premises IT to cloud computing and 49% to the transition to a hybrid or remote workforce.

In addition, almost half of the organizations have noticed an increase in the number and types of users. And surprise, it is no longer just humans, but also machines and third-party systems. The need to manage this landscape while ensuring that employees remain productive and safe therefore creates challenges.

44% of respondents indicated that the difficulties in improving or maintaining the productivity of their team were a major challenge, while 44% indicated that it was necessary to secure an increasing attack surface.

“The big clouds have built business models on capturing your data, which makes it difficult to move them”

“The IT and security teams have been faced with a monumental challenge,” says Jen Taylor, senior vice president and chief product officer of Cloudflare.

They need to connect remote and on-premises users to the infrastructure, as well as multiple cloud platforms and SaaS applications, Taylor said, noting that this is difficult because most organizations have proprietary infrastructures, specific compliance requirements, and processes and configurations that are not fully compatible.

“Today, the big clouds have built business models on capturing your data, which makes it difficult to move them,” said Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare. “These captive clouds will lure you in with a single product and make it almost impossible to mix and match competing cloud offerings”.

To solve these problems, Matthew Prince explains that companies need a network infrastructure that allows them to easily connect and secure everything, including devices, databases, on-premises hardware and multiple clouds.

Source: “ZDNet.com “