One of my favorite things about Axian, is the birds eye view that we’ll often get on 
technology and its adoption. We’re in tens of worksites every year, and often get to see technology initiatives of all sorts (platforms, tooling, governance, etc…). We also get to lend a hand when rollouts go awry, or activities have strayed from their goals (i.e. we help with cleanup).
A Surprising Disconnect
If I were to take a recent poll of teams we’re helping, you’d be surprised just how many are struggling with IP Networking challenges and have very little formal training to help them self-serve. It may be unexpected at first blush, but please consider the following about today’s modern software team:
- Teams are often asked to build products that make use of one (or more) clouds and on-site resources.
- Teams are often asked to mix several resource types (and networks!) for a variety of concerns (cost, security, scale, compliance). These resources might be serverless, PaaS resources, or IaaS resources, and they’re all supposed to work together (with security constraints) and be consistently created/versioned across several environments.
- Compliance regimens are often requiring the use of Private Endpoints or VPC Service Endpoints when accessing cloud resources, which helps with compliance, but complicates DNS propagation and IP routing.
Siloed Acumen
Exacerbating the above is that Networking competencies usually lie with completely different roles/functions within most organizations, and those roles are usually inaccessible to their software developer counterparts (usually separated by a ticketing system).
Developers are left to design and troubleshoot networks on their own are often in the dark when it comes to understanding the nuances of hybrid networks like network latency, data sovereignty issues, or the security implications of different network configurations.
In the age of increasing cybersecurity threats and stringent regulatory compliance, this lack of understanding can have meaningful consequences. Oversights or misunderstandings about networking requirements can lead to a data breach or a regulatory violation, costing the company millions and damaging its reputation.
The Solution
Consider breaking down silos and fostering an environment of cross-functional collaboration and continuous learning. Provide developers with training on hybrid cloud networking and its specific requirements. Encourage networking teams to work closely with developers, sharing their knowledge and insights. Make sure they can test each others work. Most importantly, ensure that this collaboration is not a one-off event but an ongoing process.
Or hire some Axianites to move your initiatives along and create application development blueprints that marry the best of on-premises and cloud.
Reach out via our website about software development practices that focus on enabling hybrid cloud setups.