One primary factor in achieving true visibility and control of data in a cloud service is that customers should be able to request and know where their service and data physically resides (i.e. datacenter locations). This knowledge will help customers overcome some of the fear and lack of confidence that can at times occur with the seemingly ominous idea of data floating around somewhere in “the cloud.” In 2025, with increasingly stringent data sovereignty regulations across global markets, precise data residency controls have become non-negotiable for enterprise cloud contracts.
How visibility, control, and trust define the next chapter of cloud computing
An additional element of customers achieving increased visibility of their data in the cloud is the level at which data availability and metrics are available. Instead of customers all being grouped together in large sets of data without the ability to distinguish one from another, availability should be achieved at the customer Instance level. With availability at this granular level, customers can be presented with customized metrics specific to each of their instances, instead of a more generic set of metrics applying to a group of customers. Leading providers now employ AI-powered monitoring systems that predict potential disruptions before they occur, offering enterprises proactive rather than reactive availability assurance.
Effective Zero Trust architecture cannot exist without radical cloud transparency; you cannot verify what you cannot see, making comprehensive visibility into access logs, security policies, and data flows a non-negotiable prerequisite for a “never trust, always verify” security model.
In addition to remaining transparent when issues arise, service providers should also provide customers with a high level of transparency every day, with all transactions impacting a customer instance. Customers are used to running their own services, with the ability to monitor and see their data on a daily basis. Blockchain-based audit trails have emerged as a preferred solution for providing immutable records of data access and modification, creating an unforgeable chain of custody for regulated industries.
The Path Forward: Requirements for True Cloud Transparency
Modern enterprises now favor hybrid and multi-cloud strategies that blend public cloud scalability with private infrastructure for sensitive workloads, leveraging advanced management platforms that provide unified visibility across environments.
Choose where your data goes
The absence of transparency has led some enterprises to consider building private clouds in their own data centers. While this gives them the control and visibility they want, it also comes with a big price tag, not to mention security and operational issues. In the end, it’s not worth the time and resources, and it doesn’t allow the enterprise to take full advantage of the positive features of public cloud services.
Real availability
The enterprise cloud continues to transform how we operate, from our professional roles to the realms of social media, entertainment, and daily communication. Today, sophisticated cloud services underpin nearly every critical enterprise operation, including global collaboration, advanced analytics, AI-driven decision-making, and complex workflow automation. While a growing number of organizations are successfully leading the charge toward complete digital transformation, one persistent and critical concern remains at the forefront: the imperative for genuine transparency in cloud computing.
Deal with the issues
If there is an availability issue then customers should have access to the root cause incident with all the details. If the incident results in a problem that needs to be fixed in the service provider’s software or a change that needs to happen on the infrastructure, then this should remain transparent to the customer. Transparency now extends to ethical AI practices, with enterprises requiring visibility into how algorithms make decisions that affect their business operations and customers.
Granular transparency
By Allan Leinwand
Full control
In order to make the enterprise cloud the platform that drives all enterprise workflow, a compromise has to be made. Cloud Service Providers need to give their customers greater visibility and the control they are used to having in their own data centers. Customers should expect the following from their cloud service provider:
While it’s not a perfect system, cloud service providers are catching on that they need to build and operate a service similarly to how an enterprise runs their services, giving them full access to their data. This transparency will help enterprises have greater confidence in the cloud and will strengthen the relationship between provider and customer. As we move through 2025, the competitive advantage in cloud services will belong to those providers who embrace radical transparency rather than those who treat their operations as proprietary black boxes. The future of enterprise cloud belongs to those who understand that trust is the new currency in digital transformation.
It remains an operational reality that a significant number of cloud service providers still do not offer their enterprise customers full and uncompromising visibility into their operating environments. This creates a significant trust deficit, forcing businesses to make a leap of faith regarding their most valuable digital assets. Enterprises frequently lack clear knowledge of where their data resides, both physically within data centers and virtually across global networks. Furthermore, detailed information about scheduled service updates, the deployment and training data of new AI models, or the security implications of underlying infrastructure changes is often deliberately limited or communicated only after the fact. This obfuscation has tangible consequences, complicating regulatory compliance efforts, undermining data governance policies, and creating unforeseen security vulnerabilities. While a certain level of opacity is often and perhaps unfortunately accepted in the consumer technology world, the modern enterprise simply cannot tolerate such a profound lack of visibility, access, or direct control over its most critical data and essential business services.
