--- title: "Rethinking security roles and organizational structure for the cloud" source: "https://www.tigera.io/blog/rethinking-security-roles-and-organizational-structure-for-the-cloud/" --- [Technical Blog](https://www.tigera.io/category/technical-blog/) # Rethinking security roles and organizational structure for the cloud By [Ratan Tipirneni](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/ratan/) on Aug 30, 2022 • 4 min read As more and more applications and application development move to the cloud, traditional security roles and organizational structures are being shaken up. Why is that and what are the benefits of a cloud-first approach for business? ## Traditional vs. cloud model Application development in the traditional model, especially in larger companies, can be thought of as a linear process—similar to a baton being passed between teammates (e.g. the application team hands off the baton to the security team). In this model, each team has their own area of expertise, such as networking, infrastructure, or security, and the application development process is self-contained within each team. The downside to this model is that responsibilities are siloed, and interactions and hand-offs between teams create friction. For example, if one team needs something from another, they need to submit a ticket and deal with wait time. In the traditional model, it’s not unusual for the application development and deployment process to last weeks or months, and then there are bug fixes and new release rollouts to contend with. A cloud model, on the other hand, offers several benefits, including automation, abstraction, and simplicity. The high degree of automation in cloud-native infrastructure in general leads to: - Better utilization of resources - Faster time to deployment and rollout - A need for less people (savings on investment) Because everything is abstracted and highly automated, you only need a small team to work across everything, including a persona I like to call “Cloud DevOps.” ## Rethinking security roles and organizational structure for the cloud There is not a 1:1 mapping of personas from the traditional model to the cloud model. So DevOps in the traditional model is very different from DevOps in the cloud model. In the traditional model, functions and roles are siloed (e.g. networking engineers, DevOps engineers, infrastructure engineers). In the cloud model, these functions are not siloed; they are ‘collapsed’ into one role: cloud DevOps engineer. Benefits of this collapse include: - **Velocity** – Everything gets compressed (speed of deployment, etc.) - **Less friction** – In the traditional model, there’s quite a bit of friction that arises due to a lack of alignment of goals, objectives, and incentives between roles and teams. All of that now goes out the door since one person is making decisions. However, just because an organization moves to the cloud doesn’t mean the traditional personas are collapsing. For example, an organization operating in the cloud might still have a separate security team. I’ve noticed this collapse more in small and mid-sized companies. In terms of organizational structure, there are a few ways companies have handled moving to the cloud. Some tried taking their existing processes and tools and applying them to the cloud (thinking the cloud was just inexpensive infrastructure that could be outsourced). So instead of implementing automation or other new processes, they outsourced this function, thinking that more workers meant the ability to scale quickly. But that doesn’t work in the cloud. In order to reap the benefits cloud has to offer, companies need to rethink their team structure and business processes. In contrast to the above-mentioned type of company, there are some companies that have taken a step back and understood that they need to fundamentally redesign and come up with a new approach. Cloud-first companies do a good job of this because they don’t have a legacy mindset, processes, tools, or structure to deal with. ## Smaller companies are getting it right We’re seeing a class of companies (small and mid-size companies) reaping the benefits of moving to the cloud, whereas larger companies are not necessarily seeing the same benefits. The reason? Larger companies are replicating their traditional structures and processes in the cloud, whereas smaller companies are building processes from the ground up that are optimized for the cloud. These smaller companies are centralizing traditional roles and functions into one new persona—cloud DevOps—that spans security, networking, and troubleshooting. With their cloud-first approach, these companies have the most to gain in the growing world of cloud. ***Learn more about the basics of cloud-native architecture with our learn guide, [Cloud-native architecture: Pros, cons, and basic principles.](https://link.tigera.io/ueUTr)***   This article originally appeared on [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/04/07/rethinking-security-roles-and-organizational-structure-for-application-development-in-the-cloud/?sh=217f354e6f2a). 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