Private Cloud Solutions for Highly Regulated Industries
Highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance need to safeguard data carefully. Enterprises in these sectors handle high volumes of sensitive data every day, and the right infrastructure is key to keeping it safe. While the public cloud has been a popular approach to computing for many businesses, it may not suit the compliance and security needs of heavily regulated industries. Private cloud infrastructure offers a solution.
Cloud Technology Continues to Revolutionize Many Industries
Enterprises across industries rely on cloud infrastructure for its many benefits. The advantages of the cloud for businesses include:
Greater scalability and flexibility: The cloud offers excellent flexibility and scalability. Private and public clouds make it easy to add more resources when your computing needs increase, and businesses can quickly adapt their infrastructure to market demands. These factors are ideal for improving an organization's agility.
Data backup and recovery: Hybrid and multi-cloud architectures help drive data backup and recovery solutions to support business continuity. If one machine, data center, or region goes down, you can depend on backups and automatic failover.
Simplified management: Cloud infrastructure lends itself to central management, allowing IT teams to monitor cloud resources and on-prem data centers from a single screen. This singular view helps reduce complex management tasks for IT departments and gives them more time to focus on growth.
Challenges of Cloud Infrastructure for Highly Regulated Industries
Cloud infrastructure isn't without its challenges--especially when you're talking about public clouds. Challenges include:
Privacy and security: Data security is one of the biggest concerns around cloud infrastructure because public clouds exist over the public internet. While cloud service providers may assure you that data is private and secure, breaches, identity theft, and malware are all potential risks on a public cloud.
Governance and data residency: For heavily regulated industries, governance and data residency are essential for keeping track of data and aligning with internal policies. Public cloud providers and their service level agreements (SLAs) can make it challenging to align with your governance needs. You may not know exactly where your data is located, and you might not have the flexibility to ensure governance policies are being met.
Compliance: While your organization may face governance challenges, compliance requirements follow shortly behind. Heavily regulated industries that handle high volumes of sensitive data need to meet the governance and security mandates of various regulatory bodies. Public cloud providers may not offer the level of control these enterprises need to stay compliant.
Advantages of Private Cloud Infrastructure for Heavily Regulated Industries
Private cloud infrastructure offers a path forward. Highly regulated industries benefit immensely from a private cloud.
Gain More Control Over Security Practices
A private cloud runs on physical machines your organization has access to, giving you more control over security practices. While public clouds can include antivirus software and firewalls, multi-tenancy and availability over the public internet can cause problems for highly regulated industries. Private clouds involve access through secure and private network links, making access control much easier.
More control over security also simplifies protocols and procedures that may be more challenging to navigate with public cloud vendors.
Implement the Right Tools for Compliance
Organizations have the flexibility to implement any necessary compliance tools on their private cloud infrastructure. Requirements like HIPAA and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are core compliance needs for many organizations, and keeping up with these standards is critical to avoid fines and protect consumers.
Public cloud infrastructure may come with limitations for these compliance tools and present complications in data governance. No one owns your data but you with private cloud infrastructure, so you can ensure the safety of all sensitive information.
Leverage Automation for Greater Efficiency
Private cloud allows your team to automate the tedious manual processes that often come with traditional on-prem systems, without the security risks of a public cloud. Eliminate repetitive tasks and enjoy more efficiency across the board.
Automating your maintenance and security practices also adds more layers of protection to your data. Reduce the chance of human error and ensure your system is always up to date. Plus, automate your compliance checks to confirm that your organization is always in alignment with industry regulations. These automation processes are an excellent way to embed security and compliance into your cloud framework.
How to Get Started With Cloud Infrastructure
Your enterprise knows it wants private cloud infrastructure, so what's next? Think about the following steps to get started with the cloud:
Determine your core goals: Understanding your organization's objectives can help you find the right service model and the best cloud solutions. For example, if your biggest priority is data governance, you'll want a solution that offers complete freedom for security policy design.
Partner with an expert: Configuring your cloud correctly is essential for protecting your data and keeping processes efficient. Turning to experts for infrastructure support can help you find all of the best solutions for your needs and guide troubleshooting when you have questions.
Explore Private Cloud Solutions With Mirantis
Mirantis specializes in private cloud infrastructure with Mirantis OpenStack for Kubernetes. This IaaS offers the flexibility of Kubernetes with rich data analytics, greater resiliency, and self-healing capabilities. Get the benefits of the cloud without vendor lock-in and enjoy expert backing from the Mirantis team.
Explore our free trial options today and get in touch to learn more about our capabilities.
