Multicloud environments tend to grow organically, less by design and more because organizations spin up resources quickly to meet specific needs without an overarching strategy. When this happens, governance may fall by the wayside. Business and IT leaders generally know they’ve reached this point because they’ll start to see three types of issues.

First, many organizations experience cost increases, usually because they have overprovisioned or idle resources. Second, the presence of poor security controls or the lack of security visibility may raise a red flag. Third, it becomes apparent in other ways that the multicloud environment lacks cohesive, intentional management.

Fortunately, it’s never too late to impose structure and controls where they belong. In fact, there will always be a need to periodically take stock of cloud environments to make sure they align with an organization’s current needs.

In a world where software drives nearly every technology, the term software-defined everything (SDx) strikes me as a bit redundant. After all, what isn’t dependent on software these days? Even in the technologies we readily associate with hardware — storage, for instance — the magic is in the software that runs on top.

As SDx matures, this once holistic idea is becoming more narrowly segmented. As with any evolving technology, opinions may differ on what falls under its broad umbrella. Does SDx include Infrastructure as Code? Artificial intelligence? Cloud operating models?

IT professionals may enjoy debating what SDx is, but there’s another valuable approach we can take to the conversation, and that’s to define what SDx isn’t. To that end, let’s examine and debunk four common myths about SDx.

Let‘s face it: Cybersecurity teams are overwhelmed with work. There simply is not enough time in the day to perform all the high-value tasks they are responsible for, such as consulting with project teams, conducting risk analyses and developing strategic security plans. To make matters worse, security teams often find themselves consumed with time-sensitive and repetitive operational work. Anything they can do to reduce this burden increases their ability to add value to the organization.

Automation has the potential to help with this heavy lifting. Any time security teams find themselves performing work that requires following a repetitive process, it is likely that automation can play an important role in reducing the operational burden. In our work with CDW customers, we have found a few common areas where automation can help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of cybersecurity teams. Let’s look at a few examples.

When organizations first deploy a cloud security posture management tool, it’s often the first time IT staff members are seeing their cloud environment from a security perspective. When they learn that a certain port was unintentionally open, or that a misconfiguration has left data unprotected, one of the most common reactions I hear is, “I didn’t know that!”

That’s not a position anyone wants to be in with their cloud environments. Yet it happens frequently, especially as more organizations engage multiple cloud service providers. Luckily, CSPM tools provide the centralized visibility that IT staffers need to keep cloud environments secure. They can run automated audits to check configurations against security and compliance rule sets, identify critical vulnerabilities and even fix them, as directed, via auto-remediation.

The cloud is both powerful and potentially complex, so it’s difficult to perform a comprehensive, continuous check on a cloud environment manually. That’s where CSPM tools come in.

Use cases for the Internet of Things have diversified quickly, but most applications are designed to achieve one (or more) of the following objectives: obtaining data for data-driven business decisions; having the capability to remotely control and monitor assets, such as digital signage or city lighting; and automating operations, such as a manufacturing production line.

Traditionally, the network infrastructure that supports business is focused on indoor switches, routers and access points. With the IoT revolution, often that’s the initial plumbing required to connect sensors, physical machines and wireless devices to the network. In recent years, companies have begun to expand the enterprise infrastructure and reach outside of the four walls of the business, leveraging IoT technology to work in new spaces that were previously unconnected — for example, with switches and routers hardened for outdoor environments connecting mobile devices back to business applications. Whether it’s controlling, monitoring or automation that’s needed, we’re no longer limited by building boundaries.

Advancing IoT yet again brings up three major challenges, and that’s where we’ll see a new wave of technological evolution.

Education and government organizations are accustomed to strict regulations on data privacy and security. Organizations must stay compliant with regard to how and where they store data; who can access it, how and for what purposes; and how they preserve privacy in data analysis. But this year, leaders in all sectors are taking another look at their data — and, in some cases, deploying master data management solutions — to maintain compliance in remote operations.

One reason for the renewed attention to compliance is that many organizations are collecting new types of data. In schools and colleges, for example, videoconferencing platforms may capture video and audio, along with academic and personal information. Many organizations have managed remote work by expanding their use of cloud computing, which triggers encryption and security protocols for data at rest, in transit and in analysis.

Onsite, organizations are gathering data through technology solutions designed to facilitate safe interactions and maintain social distancing, such as thermal imaging for temperature screenings or video recordings and analytics for occupancy control and contact tracing. All this data must be properly managed and stored.