According to Cloudflare, organizations are losing control over their IT and security environments, with big cloud providers having all the power.
In collaboration with Forrester, the web performance and security provider conducted a study involving nearly 450 IT decision makers worldwide. The study revealed that while organizations have witnessed a significant increase in application adoption, particularly SaaS-based, it has resulted in various challenges.
40% of the surveyed firms admitted to losing control over their IT and security environments, while almost a third (30%) stated that managing and securing public cloud environments, as well as data in SaaS environments, has become significantly more complex than before.
This is just one of the changes observed in recent years. Almost half of the organizations cited managing the growing number and types of users, not limited to humans but also machines and third parties, as one of their top five challenges. 44% of respondents mentioned problems related to maintaining or improving team productivity, while 44% also struggled with addressing the expanding attack surface areas.
The survey found that 66% of respondents believed that an increase in the number of applications managed was the main contributing factor to the loss of control. Additionally, 62% pointed to the increase in application locations, 54% mentioned the shift from on-premises to cloud, and 49% highlighted the transition to remote and hybrid workforces.
Cloudflare attributes these challenging conditions to the big cloud providers. According to Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, these providers have built business models that make it difficult for organizations to move their data. He stated, “These captivity clouds will lure you in with one product, and make it near impossible to mix and match competitive offerings across the cloud space.”
Cloudflare claims to have a solution in the form of the “connectivity cloud.” This unified platform of cloud-native services aims to help enterprises regain control over their complex and sprawling technology and data. The key factors of this solution include deep, native integration with the internet and enterprise networks, limitless interoperability and customizable networking, a single pane of glass, and the ability to analyze high volumes and varieties of traffic to provide platform intelligence.
Cloudflare describes itself as the leading connectivity cloud company and aims to connect and protect everything online. The company seeks to help businesses escape the control of the big cloud providers.
Photo by Rodolpho Zanardo
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