Navigating Cloud Mandates: Strategies for Seamless Implementation

Migration is a common goal for organizations adopting cloud technology for the first time as well as those making a bigger leap to a fully cloud-native future. The complexity of a multicloud migration can be a hurdle in itself, but there is also the matter of federally defined cloud mandates to consider as well. Dealing with cloud mandates is an inevitable step, but enterprise leaders can overcome it with smart strategies for seamless cloud implementation.

The IT decision-makers of today are looking to FinOps and state-of-the-art automation as possible solutions for increasing IT efficiency in the cloud age and continuing to transform IT operations for the better.

Key Takeaways:

  • Cloud mandates outline recommended security and compliance measures applicable to many situations, so companies are constantly dealing with them in real-time.
  • Federal Cloud Smart mandates exist to help businesses and agencies achieve security, procurement, and workforce success during and after cloud implementation.
  • The right cloud platform makes it easier than ever to meet cloud mandate standards through simplification, unification, and hands-on expertise.

How To Know When You Are Dealing With Cloud Mandates

Cloud mandates are the federally outlined guidelines for security and compliance that organizations must uphold when handling sensitive customer information in the cloud. A company that maintains an acceptable level of compliance and that employs an effective strategy for protecting data is commonly said to be “cloud smart.”

There are times, though, when dealing with cloud mandates and being cloud-smart are not so easy. These can be situations when you are implementing a new cloud technology for the first time or undergoing a significant cloud migration. Such processes might expose mission-critical data to outside risks during the transition.

Navigating cloud mandates and pulling off a seamless implementation of cloud technology requires sound strategies that will carry you from start to finish.

By the time you realize that cloud mandates should have been a factor in your cloud migration, though, it may already be too late to deal with them in a way that does not disrupt your business. When planning big cloud moves, it is important to understand the relevant mandates and your platform options ahead of time.

Understanding Cloud Smart Mandates

Cloud mandates in the United States stem from the government strategies for cloud computing, starting with its Cloud First strategy and now continuing with the Cloud Smart strategy that aims to accelerate the secure and meaningful adoption of cloud-based solutions.

Cloud Smart mandates not only ensure responsible implementation of cloud technology but also contribute to an industry-wide education regarding information and recommendations originating from the country’s most impactful public and private sector use cases. Dealing with cloud mandates means complying with thoughtful regulations pertaining to security, procurement, and workforce aspects of cloud adoption.

All organizations should strive to be cloud-smart and comply with cloud mandates, but government organizations in particular must meet a high standard. A key action mandated by the government’s Cloud Smart initiative is the rationalization of application portfolios to drive federal cloud adoption at federal agencies.

Nutanix offers a solution for government organizations implementing Cloud Smart mandates and that are in need of a better way to manage applications, workloads, and infrastructure. Agencies already operating on AWS infrastructure can unify multiple private and public clouds with Nutanix Cloud Clusters on AWS GovCloud.

Leveraging a Platform That Meets Compliance Demands

Nutanix Cloud Clusters can bring much to the table for any organizations dealing with cloud mandates, not just those in the federal space looking to integrate government-oriented cloud infrastructure. With NC2, any enterprise can attain hybrid cloud simplicity and effortless scalability while retaining fast and consistent IT operations or migrations.

NC2 is also only one component of the Nutanix Cloud Platform that contributes to an organization’s overall compliance stature. When it comes to cloud mandates, it is crucial to leverage a platform like NCP that can help with meeting compliance demands while also delivering performance, security, and control at every level of the cloud stack.

NCP accomplishes this with a variety of tools and solutions for any situation, including the Nutanix Cloud Manager, which centralizes security and enforces cost governance. NCM can also contribute to the seamless implementation or migration of cloud technology through self-service functionality that automates the process of troubleshooting and resolving any compliance issues IT teams might encounter.

The NCP design philosophy is one of freedom, enabling any app in the hybrid cloud environment both on premises and in any public cloud location. Dealing with cloud mandates and business-critical application demands requires an agile and scalable cloud infrastructure to ensure maximum security and performance.

Building a Comprehensive Strategy for Dealing With Cloud Mandates

Navigating cloud mandates, being cloud smart, and getting the most out of a cloud platform are three aspects of modern IT management that overlap almost entirely. Seamless implementation is the obvious goal for organizations bringing in new cloud solutions, but can only be achieved when there is a comprehensive strategy that accounts not only for cloud adoption but for navigating cloud mandates as well.

Nutanix Cloud Clusters, along with a whole suite of other solutions available on the Nutanix Cloud Platform, can simplify compliance concerns no matter what an organization’s current cloud deployment looks like. The key benefits of NC2 include integrated cloud visibility, cloud-native integration, faster time to value, and dynamic access to IT resources.

Dealing with cloud mandates can seem like an excessively inhibitive step in cloud implementation. With the right solutions at one’s disposal, though, it becomes clear that these mandates can be easily navigable guidelines for cloud success.

Learn more about why businesses need cloud-native computing in the first place and how to rethink cloud workloads to help meet compliance standards.

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