Cisco has launched Cloud Consumption as a Service, a new software-as-a-service product that will discover and monitor public cloud services as organisations are using, to help chief information officers (CIOs) manage their shadow IT issues.

 

For years, CIOs have known that business groups were circumventing the IT department to access public cloud services they felt they needed to do their jobs, said a statement.

 

Only recently have CIOs begun to realise the full extent of the cloud sprawl across their organisations and the pitfalls for their business, it said.

 

The recent analysis by Cisco has revealed the extent of the shadow IT challenge. The average large enterprise now uses 1,220 individual public cloud services, which is up to 25 times more than estimated by IT. 

 

Meanwhile, the average number of public cloud services has grown 112 per cent over the past year, and 67 per cent over the past six months. 

 

There are also significant business risks associated with uncontrolled adoption of public cloud services. These range from regulatory compliance and data protection, to business continuity, cost and service performance.

 

The primary function of the new service is to discover and continually monitor public cloud use across an organisation, said the statement.

 

When combined with detailed analytics and benchmarking from Cisco, this insight will help businesses reduce security risks and better understand and manage costs. 

 

It will help IT team to partner more effectively with business groups and make educated decision about the right cloud services for the business.  

 

To help customers understand how cloud governance can be simplified, Cisco is offering a free 30-day trial.

 

Ziad Salameh, managing director and general manager - Gulf, Levant and Pakistan and Middle East Services Leader, Cisco, said: “Organisations are facing an explosion in cloud use as business teams are going around the IT department to use public cloud services that they feel will help their business. This, in turn, is creating a huge challenge for IT leaders as the risks from security and compliance to data protection and business continuity increases. 

 

"Cisco's Cloud Consumption as a Service offering gives CIOs better visibility and insight into what services are being used and what they can do to control them. It helps our customers mitigate cloud risks, uncover redundant services to reduce costs, and compare providers and benchmark usage. 

 

"Ultimately, it helps organizations strategically manage their cloud use and gain insight into their cloud roadmap.” - TradeArabia News Service