Abstract
Remote working has become more popular in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. To facilitate this, there has been a greater adoption of cloud technology which has in-turn led to a rise in cloud breaches and other risks associated with cloud adoption. This paper thus explores the current state of cloud assurance and comments on its shortcomings before recommending a tool to mitigate these risks. To gain deeper insight on the current state of cloud assurance, we conducted literature reviews, case studies and interviews with key stakeholders. A detailed stakeholder analysis was then done to list the desires and aspirations of various stakeholder groups. Furthermore, a user needs analysis was carried out to capture the various target user types, roles and needs. Inefficiencies and pain points within the current workflow were identified and solution requirements were extrapolated from these problem areas keeping in mind the needs of the target user groups. A market analysis was also done to determine the strengths and weaknesses of similar products in this category. A borrow-or-build strategy was then adopted when developing the concept for our tool. The solution was then developed through visual representations of multiple iterations of the software architecture and data model. Paper prototypes were used to gain a better idea of the product. This was followed by high-fidelity prototypes of the product from which the development of the web application was initiated. A first round of user testing, more specifically a User Discovery Test was done with the high fidelity prototype accompanied with other tests such as System Usability Scale Test and 10 Heuristics Test. Further development, with services and systems integration, were then conducted iteratively where feedback in tests would be incorporated as modifications to the systems architecture and data model until a minimum-viable product was achieved and wrapped up with a User Acceptance Test. The developed tool is well placed in the current state of the market and recommendations gathered from user tests have been consolidated and presented as future works in this paper. Through interviews with a leading auditing firm providing cloud assurance services, this tool has been estimated to save them 63% of man-hours per engagement.