Cloud Digital Leader Why cloud technology is transforming business Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  Move everything to a public cloud without additional access controls to maximize speed

  Why it's wrong here

  Moving everything to a public cloud with no additional access controls is a critical regulatory failure for a retail bank. Financial data is subject to strict regimes like PCI-DSS and GDPR that mandate encryption, network segmentation, and identity-based access control; removing these controls exposes customer PII and transaction data to breaches. Speed does not justify bypassing security, because automated guardrails like VPC Service Controls and IAM policies can be applied without slowing deployment—they are prerequisites, not optional optimizations.

• ✗

  Use a lift-and-shift migration to cloud VMs and rely on manual change management

  Why it's wrong here

  A lift-and-shift migration to cloud VMs retains the same monolithic architecture and operational model, so it fails to take advantage of cloud-native services like managed databases, autoscaling, or event-driven compute. Relying on manual change management creates a bottleneck where every deployment requires human approval and error-prone steps, directly opposing the bank's goal of quickly launching digital features. This approach also leaves compliance auditing as a reactive, manual process rather than embedding automated audit trails, making it inadequate for rapid iteration in a regulated industry.

• ✗

  Stick with on-premise systems for compliance and use cloud only for non-sensitive data

  Why it's wrong here

  Keeping sensitive data on-premises while using cloud only for non-sensitive workloads creates a fragmented architecture that complicates integration and slows feature delivery. The on-prem environment still demands provisioning, patching, and capacity planning, which are exactly the operational burdens the bank wants to reduce. Furthermore, this strategy is based on the misconception that cloud cannot meet compliance requirements; in reality, cloud providers like Google Cloud offer certified compliance controls, encryption, and audit logging that are far more robust than most legacy on-prem setups, so this choice unnecessarily forfeits agility.

• ✓

  Implement a cloud-native architecture using GKE, Cloud Build, and Cloud IAM with compliance auditing

  Why this is correct

  Implementing a cloud-native architecture with GKE, Cloud Build, and Cloud IAM directly supports the bank's speed and compliance objectives. GKE enables containerized microservices that can be independently scaled and updated, while Cloud Build automates the CI/CD pipeline, allowing new features to be deployed rapidly and consistently. Cloud IAM provides fine-grained access control with least privilege, and compliance auditing via Cloud Audit Logs creates an immutable, tamper-evident record of all operations, ensuring the bank can meet regulatory requirements while innovating. This combination of automation, isolation, and observability is the industry standard for regulated digital transformations.

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