There is no denying that advanced technologies such as cloud, IoT, and big data analytics are here to stay and with them, the risks of cybersecurity and privacy threats have increased manifold. In highly regulated industries, organizations are mandated to adhere to HIPAA, NIST, GDPR and other regulatory guidelines to address the growing security challenges. Computing, governance, compliance, and security services, supported by externally certified procedures and processes, are usually offered by commercial cloud computing platforms. Large cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) have implemented effective and strong management and operations processes to fortify digital assets and foster innovation in enterprises. AWS has also invested heavily in acquiring numerous widely used accreditations like SOC-2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, and many more. These investments have made it much more effortless for the highly regulated markets and the public sector to utilize the existing services for enhancing the security framework in organizations rapidly.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), US Treasury, among many other bigwigs of the US government agencies have effectively deployed transformation programs based on accredited cloud services. Other state agencies, such as District of Columbia’s Health Benefits Exchanges (DC-HBX), have also implemented digital transformation services provided by cloud providers to offer health benefits insurance services to their citizens and also developed a shared services delivery model in conjunction with other states like the State of Massachusetts to yield efficiencies.

It is necessary for cloud initiatives to have definitive goals and objectives. Public sector organizations that are often bridled by scarce resources and limited budgets are looking to improve security and with cloud-based solutions. As companies embark on their journey of digital transformation, it becomes essential for them to maintain and protect data availability, integrity, and availability in all contexts—on-premise, in the cloud, and in hybrid environments.