Secure Cloud Transformation: The CIO’s Journey



Book: Secure Cloud Transformation

Author: Richard Stiennon

Book review by Abigail Opiah


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Secure Cloud Transformation: The CIO’s Journey tells the stories of how forward-thinking enterprises achieve scalable growth with direct, secure connectivity. For them, the internet has become the new corporate network.

The book covers a wide range of cloud-related topics from moving applications to the cloud, right through to security transformation and secure cloud transformation.

One unique section in the book is the part where Stiennon explores the perspectives of leading cloud providers, highlighting the importance of understanding the different abstraction levels in cloud computing. Stiennon included contributions from Scott Guthrie, EVP, Cloud & Enterprise Group, Microsoft, Stephen Orban, General Manager, Amazon Web Services, Tariq Shaukat, President, Partner & Industry Platforms, Google Cloud – amongst 13 other key IT leaders.

Operator and vendor revenues across seven key cloud service and infrastructure market segments passed the $150bn milestone, growing by 24% from the first hand of 2018, and it is no secret that AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud have a huge part to play in that figure.

Data from Synergy Research Group found that in the cloud service segments, IaaS & PaaS had the highest growth rate at 44%, followed by enterprise SaaS at 27%, UCaaS at 23% and hosted private cloud infrastructure services at 20% – which the book also highlights.

Through interviews with 16 progressive IT leaders from industry, “Secure cloud transformation” reveals their transformation experience and journeys.

They are CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, and architects from organisations that are blazing new trails as they transition their IT operations to the cloud.

In this first-hand anthology, they provide actionable guidance on what pitfalls to avoid and what steps to take for a smooth transition to the modern era of cloud computing.

The IT leaders in the book point out important facts about cloud adoption including the fact that it often happens organically.

Some of the contributors also revealed the phases of their cloud transformation journey, pointing out the fact that cloud transformation delivered solutions that helped to create a better experience for its users, and helped to reduce business risk on a whole.


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Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft said: “The cloud is the greatest tech transformation of our time, and Secure Cloud Transformation documents the real-work narratives of progressive enterprise IT leaders. It’s a must-read for anyone embarking on their own cloud journey.”

5 Facts about Richard Stiennon:

Richard Stiennon

• He is Chief Research Analyst for IT-Harvest, the firm he founded in 2005 to cover the 2,200 vendors that make up the IT security industry.

• He is a member of the advisory board at the Information Governance Initiative and sits on the Responsible Recycling Technical Advisory Board, the standard for electronic waste.

• He has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and his MA in War in the Modern World from King’s College, London.

• He writes for Forbes, CSO Magazine, and The Analyst Syndicate.

• His previous roles include Chief Strategy Officer for Blancco Technology Group, the Chief Marketing Officer for Fortinet, Inc. and VP Threat Research at Webroot Software.

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