Cloud Provisioning vs Cloud Governance: A Data-driven Comparison
Cloud computing has transformed the way businesses handle their data and applications. With cloud services, businesses can easily scale their IT infrastructure, store and process data, and reduce maintenance costs. Yet, with the increasing adoption of cloud technology, it has become crucial to manage it efficiently. Cloud governance and cloud provisioning are two important aspects of cloud management, but they are often confused with one another. In this article, we will compare cloud provisioning and cloud governance and highlight their differences.
What is Cloud Provisioning?
Cloud provisioning refers to the process of providing cloud resources such as virtual machines, storage, and network bandwidth on-demand. One of the primary benefits of cloud provisioning is that it reduces the effort and time required to set up new infrastructure. Instead of buying new hardware and setting it up, businesses can simply provision resources from cloud service providers. Cloud provisioning also allows you to pay only for what you need, making it a cost-effective solution for IT infrastructure.
What is Cloud Governance?
Cloud Governance is the set of policies, procedures, and best practices designed to maintain compliance and manage risks in the cloud environment. Cloud Governance is often used to ensure that the cloud infrastructure aligns with the organization's goals and objectives while also ensuring that critical data is secured. Cloud Governance policies can include data residency and sovereignty, privacy compliance, data retention, and access control.
Comparison: Cloud Provisioning vs Cloud Governance
While cloud provisioning and cloud governance share a common goal of managing cloud services, they differ in several key areas:
The Focus
Cloud provisioning focuses on providing cloud resources, while cloud governance prioritizes compliance, security, and risk management. Cloud provisioning is primarily concerned with the creation and management of cloud resources, while cloud governance is focused on ensuring that those resources are used appropriately and in accordance with organizational policies and procedures.
The Goals
The goals of cloud provisioning and governance are different. Cloud provisioning is focused on maximizing efficiency, reducing costs, and improving agility, while cloud governance is focused on decreasing risk and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
The Metrics
Cloud provisioning is generally measured by the speed and efficiency of the provisioning process, such as the time it takes to provision a virtual machine or add storage. In contrast, cloud governance is measured by the effectiveness of policies and procedures in achieving compliance and managing risks.
The Cost
The cost of cloud provisioning is usually tied to the cost of the cloud resources being provisioned. In contrast, the cost of cloud governance is often tied to the cost of compliance-related activities, such as audits and assessments.
Conclusion
Cloud provisioning and cloud governance are both essential components of cloud management. While cloud provisioning focuses on providing cloud resources, cloud governance focuses on managing risks and ensuring compliance. By understanding the differences between cloud provisioning and cloud governance, businesses can better manage their cloud infrastructure and avoid potential issues.