Comparing Cloud Maturity Models – NIST, CIS and CMMI

The NIST, CIS and CMMI gauges have their similarities and differences and can be applied to assess your cloud maturity level . But after all, what is maturity? What topics does it address? What are your phases? And which model should you choose?

We will address these and other possible questions in this text, as well as other information about cloud maturity and its main aspects. We will perform a comparison between NIST, CIS and CMMI, defining each one and explaining how it works.

What are Cloud Maturity Models?

Cloud maturity is the level of domain and use of its technologies by companies, ranging from its adoption to the maximum use of its platform. It is the journey of knowing and gradually implementing resources , optimization and innovation in the cloud – seeking productivity, agility and growth of your business.

Maturity evaluates different themes , which are the areas of the cloud that your company must work on. As each model has a different structure, these themes are variable, but generally go through:

• management;
• security,
• automation;
• integration;
• mobility.

The phases, on the other hand, refer to the level that your business has of taking advantage of the cloud – in each of the themes. Also varying according to the maturity model, ranging between five and seven stages. In the Gartner model, for example, they are divided as follows:

1. Initial;
2. Consolidation;
3. Strategy;
4. Transformation; It is  
5. Driving.

Regardless of whether you rely on NIST, CIS, CMMI or another model, the important thing is to analyze how much your company takes advantage of the cloud and think about how to improve it.

NIST

NIST maturity model is a framework that helps organizations assess and improve their maturity in adopting cloud technologies. It has the NIST Cybersecurity Framework , which has some guidelines and practices to improve your security in the cloud .

This gauge works your company's cybersecurity capabilities and processes Meet them:

1. Identify : Know what the cybersecurity risks are for your cloud resources.
2. Protect : determine which are the security measures in the cloud, which will guarantee its full functioning.
3. Detect : define ways to recognize if any cybersecurity event has occurred.
4. Respond : explain what should be done if a threat or error occurs.
5. Recover : Show which systems, services and data need to be recovered, as well as restore capabilities.

CIS

CIS Benchmarks is a CIS (Center for Internet Security) service, consisting of a set of practices indicated to help companies' digital security , analyzing those applied and pointing out how to improve them or which others should be inserted. It defines a series of protection measures in different areas and levels of maturity, allowing organizations to assess their cybersecurity progress.

CIS Benchmarks span a range of technologies including applications, databases, network devices, web servers and operating systems . Each benchmark is developed using the experience and knowledge of CIS and industry experts and is always updated to respond to new cybersecurity threats.

Compared to NIST, CIS is more specific , created exactly to analyze and improve the maturity of cybersecurity in the cloud, while the former has a broader scope in the cloud. Thus, the Benchmarks approach is more detailed , while NIST's is more general.

CMMI

CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a framework developed to help companies improve their processes and achieve greater productivity and quality. It points out guidelines and best practices for assessing and optimizing the maturity and capacity of business processes in several areas, especially in software development, project management, systems engineering and services .

The CMMI works with five levels of maturity, indicating the different stages of taking advantage of the cloud. Are they:

1. Initial : improvised processes, which are not well defined.
2. Managed : Processes planned and monitored to ensure consistency and predictability of results.
3. Defined : Documented, standardized, and integrated processes across the organization.
4. Quantitatively Managed : processes with metrics and quantitative analysis to understand and control quality.
5. Optimized : processes that constantly seek improvement, with data and feedback.

Unlike previous models, CMMI does not have a specific role for cybersecurity, but can be used for other topics. It is very suitable for developers , going from the project to the realization of these.

Auto.Sky : Platform that simplifies the migration and management of software in the Cloud

Regardless of choosing NIST, CIS or CMMI, good use of the cloud also involves quality resource migration and management . Counting on a specialized partner , you are already ahead when we talk about maturity in the cloud!

Auto.Sky works for you to enjoy the best of the cloud, optimizing your operations Auto.Sky With the service to carry out your storage, you will have:

• flexibility and availability to access your resources from anywhere and at any time;
• scalability that lets you change the size of the cloud to keep up with your demands;
• maximized cost-effectiveness , with savings in equipment, software and IT staff;
• cybersecurity to reduce the risks of hacker attacks and breaches;
• specialized team to prevent and correct failures, taking care of support, maintenance and updating;
• expense predictability , paying exactly for what you use;
• Multi Cloud with the main clouds in the market, such as AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle.

Auto.Sky has three cloud solutions, forming a complete service Auto.Sky Meet:

• Auto.Sky Platform : migration of client-server applications to the cloud, scalability with integrated cybersecurity and cost predictability with per-user pricing.
• Auto.Sky Services : cost optimization for those already in the cloud, environment support and management, workload migration and architecture modernization.
• Auto.Sky Business One : migration from SAP Business One to the cloud and added add-ons.

We hope that you understand the differences between NIST, CIS and CMMI and make the best choice for your company. If you have any questions or want to learn more about Auto.Sky , talk to one of our experts !