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Cloud Repatriation: Analyzing the financial and strategic implications of cloud repatriation
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Christopher Williams, go-to-market director and field CTO for RSA's Identity Governance and Administration solutions, discusses cloud repatriation, the trend of moving workloads back from cloud to on-premises, drawing on customer conversations rather than a product pitch. He frames the decision as Newtonian: every justification for moving to the cloud (cost, elasticity, reduced staffing) has an equal and opposite justification for returning (data control, unmet SLA promises, cost that turns out to be a wash once staff, dev, test, and disaster-recovery images are all counted). He covers recurring concerns, data location and regulatory compliance, whether providers truly meet their control obligations, and disaster-recovery complexity, noting repatriation savings average 15 to 20 percent but rarely account for full image sprawl. He argues the decision should be a business and cyber-risk case owned by data owners, not a purely technical one, describes a private hybrid cloud 'Goldilocks zone' as many organizations' sweet spot, and closes with guidance: build the case as a full service lifecycle, staff for it realistically, use a semi-technical or third-party project lead, and test for functional improvement over the cloud baseline, not just parity. Questions cover RSA's own hosting model and SOC 2 Type II testing.
Curious about a growing trend of organizations transitioning from cloud services to on-premises services?
In this session, we will examine the motivations, concerns, best practices and a balanced perspective of both On-premises and Cloud services. We will look at specific use cases, and provide you with context and insights to assist you in determining the effectiveness of both models, the cost factors and the data security implications.
Whether you are a Technical IT Professional or a Business Leader, this talk will equip you with the tools and knowledge to help you make a more informed decision on the deployment model that is right for your organization.
Key takeaways
- Count all the images you'll bring back, not just production: dev, test, staging, and disaster-recovery copies can turn a repatriation 'saving' into a wash.
- Treat the repatriation decision as a business and cyber-risk case owned by data and business-line owners, not a purely technical assessment run by IT alone.
- Consider private hybrid cloud as a middle path when the driver is control and data residency rather than pure cost, you keep cloud elasticity while managing the data yourselves.
- Test the returned service for functional improvement over the cloud baseline, not just parity, you need a concrete 'better for us' case to justify the move internally.
- Assign a semi-technical or third-party project lead for a repatriation effort; someone without a personal stake in the original cloud decision keeps testing and scope honest.
Speakers
Christopher Williams
Christopher is a leading voice in the convergence of operational IT practices and Identity, Audit, and Compliance programs. His career features 15 years as a practicing IT DC manager, Operations & Technical Services, and 28 years creating and… Read moreRead less
Christopher is a leading voice in the convergence of operational IT practices and Identity, Audit, and Compliance programs. His career features 15 years as a practicing IT DC manager, Operations & Technical Services, and 28 years creating and building/managing Identity/Security consulting teams for fortune 500 companies and DOD contractors, technical process consulting services, software product management and software services.
