Cloud tagging allows enterprises around the world to identify, organize, filter, and search information by value, helping them classify their resources based on purpose, ownership, environment, and other criteria.
For this reason, the importance of cloud tagging in today’s tech world is immense.
It allows tech companies to store metadata, power up VMs (virtual machines), and manage applications and other workloads. Not only does this enhance visibility and accountability but also makes cost reporting more feasible.
But many tech companies still face challenges.
Those dealing with cloud environments of various sizes undoubtedly struggle with data management on a regular basis. While many cloud users don’t understand what resources to use, others find it hard to maintain compliance.
The key to proper cloud governance is a strategic alignment of cloud assets based on enterprise needs. Additionally, it’s essential to factor in tech infrastructure, application needs, financial practices, security regulations, and more.
A comprehensive tagging strategy will prioritize business values whilst helping you manage your cloud infrastructure. But how does cloud tagging bring relevance to tech infrastructure, and how can you get started?
Here’s everything you need to know.
Why Tech Environments Need a Proper Cloud Tagging Strategy?
Most tech infrastructures embrace hybrid or multi-cloud environments because it minimizes digital downtime. But such complex cloud environments contain too many services that are hard to manage without proper governance.
Cloud consumption and usage are massive in hybrid or multi-cloud environments. As a result, it incurs higher bandwidth costs resulting in financial loss.
When IT enterprises use more than a single cloud provider, they also lose control and visibility over their assets. This issue is known as cloud sprawl.
Cloud sprawling impacts everything in tech infrastructure. It occurs as a result of data mismanagement, improper monitoring, and misconfiguration of a cloud environment.
For instance, different development teams may use two separate cloud providers for the same service. As a result, cloud services start to sprawl, leading to security breaches, unexpected cloud costs, and more.
Common risks associated with cloud sprawling are:
- Security breach: This exposes your cloud infrastructure to cyberattack as a result of unmonitored workloads. Lack of security governance and protocol presents more opportunities for hackers to steal your data.
- Unchecked costs: This increases your company’s cloud consumption for unnecessary workloads. Without proper budgeting and financing, your company incurs more costs for forgotten resources or idle workloads.
- Inefficient access: This creates gaps in cloud workflow within an organization as a result of improper governance. Your tech infrastructure becomes redundant when many departments use the same cloud providers.
How to Improve Cloud Tagging in a Tech Environment?
Cloud tagging is a resourceful way to identify, store, and integrate tech resources based on purpose, ownership, and product association.
When there’s no business context around an enterprise’s cloud infrastructure, you’re simply left with a pile of data systems with no purpose or utility.
To create the best cloud tagging strategy, you must breakdown the cloud usage of your business by clarifying the following:
- What is the cost per product, feature, and customer?
- Which teams require what, and what are their structures?
- Which segments of the business are profitable?
- Which resources or assets are usable or not?
To improve your cloud tagging strategies, here are three best practices.
Create a Cloud Tagging Policy
Developing and implementing tagging policies ensures cloud governance. It includes documenting every stage of tagging, from ownership to maintenance.
Your tagging policy should also cover tags related to an asset’s environment.
In the tech world, this means analysis, development, testing, staging, and more.
Ensure Proper Policy Distribution
Once tagging policies are approved and well-documented, it’s time to share them with organization members or relevant people.
For the strategy to succeed, every stakeholder in the cloud must accept and follow these policies sincerely.
Such practices ensure data integrity when employees comply with security requirements.
Periodically Review and Remove Tags
In a multi-cloud environment, you’ll encounter many rogue assets or systems requiring immediate attention and analysis.
For this reason, it’s important to implement a system where you can review, revise, or remove older tags.
But this process will constantly change based on your enterprise’s cloud requirements.
Integrate Cloud Tagging in Tech Infrastructure
Most tech infrastructures feature multi-cloud or hybrid computing environments, as they serve various needs suitable to different in-house departments.
From avoiding vendor lock-ins to minimizing data breaches, a multi-cloud tagging strategy gives tech companies a competitive edge.Â
If you don’t have the time to deploy tagging policies consistently for a range of assets in a hybrid cloud environment, get in touch with an expert.
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