Fear Not the Cloud, A User’s Guide: Part 2

The Power of Scaling

For many organizations using cloud services can have many benefits. To begin with, your employees are able to login to their systems anytime, anywhere and there is frequently a higher adoption rate and lower learning curve among users because they’re already familiar with the general workings of the web browsers through which the software is provided. This means that organizations seeking more flexibility for their employees are able to easily deliver it without having to worry about a drop in productivity. Additionally, since you don’t need to maintain the software or servers on premises, cloud services can offer huge cost savings and advantages in business continuity, especially for a business that’s just starting out.

However, there are some pitfalls to using cloud-based, or SaaS (Software as a Service) programs that companies run into - especially as they begin to grow and scale their business.

The Challenge of Cloud Infrastructure Growing Pains

For some organizations, especially those that started off as small companies and have grown, there may be quite a few aspects of their business reliant on cloud-based applications. When there’s just a few employees these solutions can be ideal, however if the company is fortunate enough to have a hiring boom, it can suddenly become a bit arduous to setup each employee with multiple cloud-based services. This is especially true if you consider that some companies may use upwards of 10 separate SaaS applications such as Google’s GSuite, Microsoft Office 365, an IP phone service, a cloud CRM like SalesForce, and a marketing automation tool like HubSpot. Depending on each new hire’s role they will most likely have different administrative rights in each application, and each one will need to be set individually.

Similarly, when an employee is terminated it can turn into a race against the clock (or a carefully, intricately timed dance) to be sure they’re removed from every business critical (and then not-so-critical) application as soon as humanly possible. After all, if one of the benefits is that everyone can access anything from anywhere, that can also be a drawback. For many organizations, especially those without a robust HR department, the termination of an employee - whether it’s on good terms or bad - can lead to a lot of checking and double-checking to ensure that company data is completely secure before and/or immediately after an employee’s departure.

IDAAS: A Solution to Identity Management in the Cloud

Are you familiar with IDaaS (Identity as a Service)? It’s a cloud-based service that combines the best of both worlds for businesses that want to benefit from lower costs coupled with the security and flexibility of on-premise solutions. Essentially, it works to keep identities safe. Services such as Microsoft Azure AD or OneLogin act as single sign-on (SSO) for the cloud, linking together various cloud-based applications and providing a streamlined way for users to log in using a single username and password, while administrators can easily manage permissions and settings. With IDaaS protocols in place, organizations no longer need to worry about the issues associated with scaling their business while using primarily cloud-based applications.

If you’re interested in finding out how to get the most out of your IT, including which cloud-based services and IDaaS applications could benefit your organization, check out our whitepaper Electronic Design Automation and get in touch.