Cox Automotive Drives Into the Cloud

Big changes can be scary for an organization. And transitions like the movement into cloud-based computing can generate apprehension and uncertainty. Patty Smith, vice president and chief information security officer at Cox Automotive, understands those feelings. But she works to ensure that her coworkers are as effective and agile as the technology that she threads through their work.

“You have to come to accept the fact that the way you’ve always done things doesn’t have to be the way that you continue doing them,” Smith says. “Don’t resist the change.”

Cox Automotive governs fifteen businesses with nearly fifty data centers across the United States, as well as fifteen additional international businesses across the world. Smith is directing the security initiatives around the company’s ongoing transition from on-premises applications into cloud services. A few of the organization’s public-facing applications have already launched. This move has inspired confidence in the process. Over the next few years, Cox will bring more and more of those on-premises applications into the cloud environment.

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