Cisco has launched a dashboard solution that companies can use to monitor and assess their cloud consumption and it is providing the solution to the channel to sell as a managed service.
The 'Cisco Cloud Consumption as a Service' tool was one of a handful of developments coming to market that show real-world applications for its Intercloud technology, its solution to hybrid cloud and hybrid IT.
It's well-documented that IT managers are struggling to cope with both shadow IT, when users purchase software as a service directly, bypassing the IT department, as well as cost blowouts of cloud platforms.
Nick Earle, who leads Cisco's global cloud and managed services sales, said Cisco tends to find end user organisations are running 10 to 15 times more cloud solutions than the IT department is aware of.
"The Cisco Cloud Consumption as a Service is a piece of software, a managed service that you can sell and make margin on. It runs inside the customer's environment and after about two weeks it gives a cloud report.
"That [report] not only identifies which clouds are being used, it shows which applications are going to which clouds, and critically, it links to all the information we have in our databases and delivers to your customers a personalised risk assessment of what risk they are taking by using those clouds. Which sites encrypt data? Which sites are compliant? Which data have known security risks? How risky is your cloud usage compared to peers in your same industry," said Earle.
Cisco is also preparing to launch the Intercloud Marketplace, an online portal that will offer access to SaaS products such as the 'Cisco Energy Management' app, which measures IT energy consumption, and 'Cisco Mobility IQ', a solution for retail analytics.
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