With the increased complexity of modern technology strategies such as modular architecture, cloud, and data centralization, it is critical for teams to prioritize governance of these strategies to avoid mounting modern technical debt.
Automating governance adherence is a valuable step to scaling best practices and compliance. These tools can help you do just that.
1. Tools for Enforcing Architectural Standards
These tools ensure consistency in design, coding practices, and adherence to established architectural frameworks.
- SonarQube / SonarCloud: Automated code quality and security checks that enforce best practices and identify technical debt or deviations from standards in real-time.
- Checkmarx: Static Application Security Testing (SAST) that ensures architectural and security standards are met during development.
- Open Policy Agent (OPA): A policy engine that can enforce architectural standards and compliance directly within systems or Kubernetes clusters.
2. Tools for Cloud Policy Enforcement
These tools monitor and enforce compliance with cloud-specific policies such as resource usage, cost optimization, and security best practices.
- Terraform with Sentinel: Ensures infrastructure as code (IaC) adheres to organizational policies by embedding checks during deployment.
- AWS Config / Azure Policy / Google Cloud Config Validator: Cloud-native tools that automatically monitor and enforce compliance with cloud resource usage policies.
- Palo Alto Prisma Cloud: Identifies and mitigates misconfigurations, policy violations, and compliance risks across multi-cloud environments.
- Cloud Custodian: Open-source tool that enables real-time monitoring and enforcement of custom cloud policies.
3. Tools for Data Integrity and Governance
These tools ensure data quality, security, and adherence to governance frameworks.
- Apache Atlas: Provides real-time metadata management and governance, ensuring data assets adhere to established policies.
- Talend Data Quality: Automates data profiling, cleansing, and validation to maintain high data integrity.
- Collibra: A data governance platform that enforces data policies and monitors compliance, ensuring adherence to integrity and privacy standards.
- BigID: Real-time data discovery and classification tool that enforces data governance and compliance with privacy regulations.
4. Comprehensive Platforms
Some tools combine multiple capabilities across architecture, cloud, and data governance:
- HashiCorp Sentinel: Works across Terraform, Vault, and Consul to enforce architectural, cloud, and security policies programmatically.
- Dynatrace / New Relic: While primarily observability tools, they provide governance and alerting for architectural deviations in microservices and cloud environments.
- ServiceNow Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC): Manages compliance across IT operations, cloud infrastructure, and data workflows.
Key Features to Look For
When selecting tools, prioritize:
- Real-Time Alerts: Immediate detection of non-compliance or deviations.
- Automation: Ability to enforce policies without manual intervention.
- Customizability: Support for custom standards and policies tailored to your organization.
- Integration: Compatibility with your existing CI/CD pipelines, cloud environments, and data systems.
These tools can significantly reduce the effort required to maintain governance, ensuring compliance and standards adherence without creating bottlenecks for development teams.
If you’re considering introducing a new strategy but lack the experience in-house, Praxent’s senior tech leads can help you get it right the first time. We provide hands-on, battle-tested expertise across modern architecture, cloud, data, DevOps, and AI to help you design, execute, and scale your governance.
Build smarter, de-risk modernization, and keep your systems ready for the future.
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