Welcome Cloud Herders

Edition #1: Welcome Cloud Herders

I'm excited to be launching the Herding Clouds newsletter as part of CloudGovernance.org.

Cloud Governance isn't just a technology challenge, it's an organizational transformation in an evolving discipline. It requires continuous education from a community of leaders driving this organizational transformation in their organizations, the Cloud Herders.

This newsletter will serve as a recurring touchpoint providing actionable insights you can apply within your organization, including curated cloud governance news and industry developments.

Future editions will tackle the human side of cloud governance challenges, such as:

• Why comprehensive monitoring doesn't translate to systematic remediation.
• How teams psychologically shut down when overwhelmed by hundreds of findings.
• Proven frameworks for rolling out governance controls that teams actually adopt.
• Real-world case studies from successful enterprise transformations.

I look forward to learning with you as we help grow Cloud Governance practices across organizations.

- Keep on Herding, Bob

What's Happening in Cloud Governance 📡

How to Herd Clouds and Influence People Book: Follow Gary's journey transforming enterprise cloud chaos into sustainable cloud governance that balances agility with control. Early access to the book is available for free in the Cloud Governance Library.

FinOps X 2025 Recap: FinOps is evolving to cover a broader range of tech spend, including AI, SaaS, and IT asset management, a shift the Foundation calls “Cloud+”. Key updates include the release of FOCUS 1.2 to unify SaaS, PaaS, and cloud billing data, new AI cost tools from Google and Oracle, and the launch of FinOps for AI certification.

AWS European Sovereign Cloud: Launching by end of 2025, AWS will offer a fully EU-operated cloud region with local leadership, data residency, and independent governance. Backed by a €7.8B investment, the region will run entirely within the EU with dedicated infrastructure, a European SOC, and support for newer AI services like Bedrock and SageMaker early on.

CIS AWS Benchmark v5.0.0 Update: Latest version includes enhanced container security controls and updated IAM recommendations.

CIS Azure Benchmark v4.0.0 Update: Significant changes include moving 90+ recommendations to CIS Service Benchmarks, adding 20 new recommendations, updating over 30, and 6 were removed.

Get Involved 👋

Join the conversation on LinkedIn about this newsletter edition.