The "blind" run to the cloud is coming to an end: the winner is a hybrid environment consisting of cloud and on-premises. This has many advantages, but also some disadvantages.

The advantages, such as not having to adapt applications, protecting previous investments in the local environment and the option of retreating to on-premises for compliance issues in the cloud, are offset by disadvantages. These include: Partial duplication of costs for specialists, exacerbation of the skills shortage, more clarification efforts for compliance, multiple locations and geographies as well as potentially duplicated costs for security measures.

This hybrid scenario was foreseeable. Wherever there is hype, there is a countermovement until the platform of productivity - as defined by Gartner - is reached. Customers and e3 are particularly concerned about data protection and information security in hybrid environments. After all, not all measures and tools work equally well on-premises and with different cloud providers.

Clarifying the need for protection with regard to the sensitivity of the data and processes with a focus on the specific workload is the top priority. After all, it is not the infrastructure that should be protected, but the business!

• On-Premises: Which systems are running and how? Who is responsible? How do the detection and recovery processes work?
• Cloud: What do the SLAs guarantee? Where is the cloud operated? What regulations apply?
• Hybrid: Determine strategic direction based on questions such as: Should more data and processes be moved to the cloud? Is the current status sufficient or is on-premises more important? Are there any business processes that run at cross-purposes?

Close collaboration between analysts and the team means that it is possible to react flexibly and quickly to changes and products can be developed under high time pressure. Domain-driven design makes it possible to optimize the user experience "on the fly" and to provide products from the idea to productive commissioning much better and faster than usual.

Double security means double protection?

Unfortunately not. When the coverage is complete, be sure to consolidate. This is because there is a high chance of duplication - in other words, you are very likely paying for some functions twice even though you don't need them.

Why consolidate at the end? Most companies are overwhelmed by the need to secure their systems while consolidating them at the same time. Either the parallel clarification takes too much time, new gaps arise or the complexity is too high. If you still want to try simultaneous consolidation, make sure that you have excellent, knowledgeable, eloquent and very well networked enterprise architects. No "fanboys/girls" of certain manufacturers with a tendency to engage in technological crusades.

Microsoft's security solutions are an example of potential duplication. In one Expert opinion For the association CISPE (Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe), business experts have come to the conclusion that bundle strategies unfortunately all too often lead to the selection of a less mature product that would probably not have been purchased without a bundle.

Therefore, the e3's recommendation for security software: It is essential that you check at a technical level and without prejudice whether the bundle products fully cover your requirements. If yes, there is nothing wrong with the bundle. If not, do not use the product. Your business deserves the protection it needs. Marketing slides do not protect you!