Start your cloud journey without a shadow
Success Story: W.I.S.
4. April 2022
What’s up in Google Cloud?
6. May 2022
Von Philipp Kislig,
Senior Account Manager
Start your cloud journey without a shadow
Senior Account Manager Philipp Kislig explains why consumer accounts often interfere with a successful journey to the cloud – and how Wabion removes the obstacle and helps customers build a solid cloud foundation.
Globally, over 1.8 billion active users use Gmail. Google’s email solution is part of Google Workspace, Google Cloud‘s cloud-based office software package. Numerous companies also rely on Google services such as Google Ads or Google Analytics. The use and management of these services often takes place on behalf of the company (incl. email address @companyname), but outside of or without the knowledge of the IT organization.
In the “Google world”, there are two different identities. A so-called consumer identity is typically used by private individuals for a Google service such as Gmai. A cloud identity as part of a cloud organization is usually controlled by the company’s IT. Risky, so-called conflicting accounts occur when the consumer and cloud identity are the same.
Risks from Shadow IT
So-called consumer accounts, also known as unmanaged user accounts, as part of Shadow IT can lead to difficulties and often also are a security risk for the companies concerned. Typically, the problems occur when the IT organization of the company creates a Google Cloud organization that contains identical user profiles and email addresses:
- Users of consumer accounts have access to the company’s Google resources (analytics data, maps settings, etc.).
- The IT organization has no control related to content and costs over the accounts.
- There is a risk that former employees continue to have access to company data after they leave – and IT no longer has access.
- When setting up a Google Cloud organization, so-called conflicting accounts can arise, i.e. identical unmanaged user accounts and a managed user accounts (part of the new Google Cloud organization).
- Worst-case scenario: important company data remains outside of the Google Cloud organization or the control of IT.
As an experienced Google Cloud Partner, Wabion encounters this Shadow IT again and again, in particular when building a Cloud Foundation. To counteract the problem, we have developed a mitigation process that has paid off for numerous customers.
Migration through mitigation
The aim of a cloud foundation is to set the course for a smooth cloud journey. Therefore, a pragmatic mitigation process should quickly and easily remove any hurdles caused by “inherited Shadow IT”:
- An administrator of the cloud organization sends a “transfer invitation” to the owners of the existing unmanaged user accounts.
- The accepted invitation leads to an automatic transfer of the unmanaged user account to the new cloud organization.
- The administrator takes care of the details of the synchronization and other settings such as Active Directory Connection, Single Sign On (SSO) etc.
The mitigation process is preceded by a thorough analysis of existing unmanaged user accounts. This simple process has already helped several Wabion customers achieve a solid cloud foundation. Contact us if you want to learn more about how to deal with Shadow IT issues. Also see our SETUP section for more information on how Wabion gets your Google Cloud journey on track from the start.