The main reason for this need for customization lies in the fact that cloud governance is added on top of your existing governance. Cloud is a disruptive technology that impacts both how the existing organization operates and requires additional capabilities and knowledge from the same organization to be used and managed. The change brought about by the cloud isn’t limited to just the IT organization; it’s broader than that. It affects the core processes of the entire organization, how they work (can) and how IT is utilized.
So, why is cloud governance tailored?
Because governing the cloud cannot simply be seen as ‘adding’ a vendor to the existing IT governance, considering the disruptive nature of the cloud. Yet, starting cloud governance from scratch isn’t necessary or desirable either, given that governance structures are already in place for IT. You’ll need to integrate cloud governance into (or: add it to) your existing organization, utilizing the existing personnel and resources and supplementing them where needed.
Setting up cloud governance requires two things from a governance organization. On one hand, specialized knowledge of the technology. On the other hand, there’s a need for (new) capabilities to use and govern this new technology (also read the whitepaper: Cloud Governance and the Highberg Cloud Governance Framework). More specifically, this requires additional cloud knowledge and capabilities on the business side (adoption, demand management, cultural change), on the directive side, and on the delivery side (cost management, architecture, security, integration). The extent to which this knowledge and these capabilities are available within the organization determines the approach to setting up cloud governance. The existing positioning and approach of the current governance organization also matter (after all, there was already no ‘one size fits all’ governance model).
Governance aims to align supply and demand. The proposition is that a cloud technology vendor cannot be viewed as a ‘regular’ supplier (supply), and collaboration with the business needs to be intensified (demand). Thus, proper control and governance of the cloud will require adjustments and sometimes expansions of the existing governance organization. Only in this way can optimal use of the cloud be achieved.
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