The full potential of cloud computing is rapidly unfolding, thanks to millennials who are relentlessly transforming the way IT companies operate.
Making up a third of the existing workforce, and expected to grow to 75% by 2025, millennials are stepping into the role of CIO and making important decisions in IT.
Unlike former generations, they don’t want change, they want radical innovation. Most company policies don’t support radical innovation, but that’s about to shift.
Launching a cloud computing revolution
Millennials are pushing their IT organizations to adopt public cloud technology and use it for daily business operations. They’re not daunted by challenges, either. This generation is highly focused with the drive to do whatever it takes to see their vision succeed.
In fact, according to a research survey conducted by Microsoft and Wakefield Research, 42% of millennials said they’re “very comfortable hosting their company’s most essential applications or services on the public cloud” and “don’t see a lack of cloud skills as a barrier to cloud adoption. They feel empowered to acquire the skills they need.”
Efficiency is the name of the game
It shouldn’t be a surprise that 90% of millennials frequently report that using their own approach at work is faster and more efficient than using company policy. This isn’t arrogance speaking, either. It’s the result of innovative genius clashing with outdated policies that just don’t work.
Companies would do well to listen to their feedback, as 19% of millennials start looking for a new job when their suggestions are ignored. That’s not to say millennials are always right, but they do have value to offer that often goes unseen.
Security in the cloud is important to millennials
Millennials, when given the opportunity, will create dynamic tools to manage risks effectively. How are they going to do it, though?
According to cloud security experts from Palo Alto Networks, there are three key requirements when maintaining the security of cloud computing. Security must be consistent, applications must be segmented using Zero Trust principles, and security deployments, along with policy updates, must be centrally managed.
Zero Trust is a necessary component of cloud security that millennials may not be prepared for.
We know millennials are willing to take risks to innovate, but how much room is there when security is involved? Perhaps security is an area where their zest for innovation could use a timeout.
Are millennials prepared to take us into the zero trust future?
Zero Trust is exactly what it sounds like: never trust, always verify. In the context of IT security, it means you don’t assume everything inside of an organization’s network can be trusted. This principle is used to track lateral threats. In other words, lateral movement is used to describe the techniques used by attackers to move through a network when looking for sensitive data to steal.
Security measures need to be in place to identify insider threats, stopping them from spreading. This involves tracking what databases and resources users are accessing, and making sure their actions are appropriate.
Part of maintaining this security is meticulous tracking of all network devices, according to ITIL best practices. Most millennials haven’t been in their CIO roles long enough to thoroughly understand ITIL and what can go wrong.
Millennials may soon discover that in order to maintain the integrity of their IT security, they’ll need to do things they may not want to do – like logging every software serial number assigned to team members and updating logs when even small devices change hands.
Transformation is driven by fearless innovation
It may take a few years to see their genius reflected in the numbers, but the workforce will see the changes immediately. They may be unconventional and extreme at times, but they know what they’re doing. They’re launching a revolution against the status quo in IT, and they’re using the cloud as their platform to do it.
