Securing The Digital Transformation | A CSP and GSI Opportunity

Digital transformation projects primarily prioritize innovation, often almost sidelining security. It's noteworthy that GSIs cover 95% of Fortune 2000 customers, with over 82% using at least two of the three Cloud Service Providers like Google GCP, Amazon AWS, and Microsoft Azure. GSIs assist multinational enterprises in their digital transformation and cloud adoption, offering services such as digital transformation, managed services, application deployment, and advisory services. Global System Integrators (GSIs), as a strategic partner, play a crucial link between customers and cloud providers influencing over $60 billion in overall cloud spends.

Despite the apparent importance of cloud security, it constitutes less than 1% of overall cloud spending, leaving significant cloud estates partially exposed. This irony arises from a lack of focus on security during the cloud journey, as stakeholders are often preoccupied with innovation, neglecting specialized security aspects.

The root of the problem lies in the limited experience and awareness of security issues during the cloud transformation process. Customers may not fully grasp the risks and often rely on GSIs and CSPs to handle potential issues. Cloud architects at GSIs and CSPs, are so focused on innovation agenda they tend to consider security as an afterthought.

This dilemma creates an opportunity for Cloud Security vendors to address the market gap by developing a coverage model that integrates all stakeholders. The onus is on these vendors to educate Cloud Architects and other stakeholders about risks and tools to mitigate them, emphasizing the importance of integrating security into the design phase.

Cloud Security vendors, currently holding a small share and a faint voice, have the potential to rapidly grow by bridging the gap between CSPs and GSIs. Establishing synergy and educating stakeholders on the benefits of delivering secure outcomes could drive growth for everyone involved.

The ideal scenario envisions a uniform Security Framework across industries for Anything Connected. Until then, GSIs and CSPs can secure technology using the best available tools for Cloud Security, emphasizing the need to prioritize security in digital transformation journeys.