Why Cloud Compliance Still Fails: The Case for a Federated Inventory

A federated inventory doesn't just list resources; it understands their relationships and dependencies. ## The Compliance Failure Mode Every year, organizations invest millions in cloud compliance: - GRC platforms for policy management - CSPM tools for configuration scanning - Manual processes for evidence collection - Consultants for audit preparation Yet compliance failures persist. Why? Because **compliance requires inventory**, and most inventory approaches are fundamentally broken. ## The Inventory Problem Traditional asset inventory falls short in three ways: ### 1. Static Snapshots Most inventory tools provide point-in-time snapshots. But clouds change constantly—resources spin up and down, configurations drift, relationships evolve. Yesterday's inventory is already outdated. ### 2. Siloed Views Each cloud provider has its own inventory system. AWS Config, Azure Resource Graph, GCP Asset Inventory. Each gives a partial view. None shows the complete picture. ### 3. Missing Relationships Listing resources isn't enough. Compliance requires understanding how resources relate: - Which IAM roles can access which data? - What encryption keys protect which storage? - How do changes in one resource affect others? Traditional inventory can't answer these questions. ## The Federated Inventory Solution A federated inventory solves these problems: ### Continuous, Not Snapshot Instead of periodic scans, a federated inventory tracks changes as they happen. Every configuration modification is captured and recorded. ### Unified, Not Siloed A federated inventory spans all cloud providers from a single platform. AWS, Azure, and GCP resources appear in one view with consistent metadata. ### Relational, Not Flat A federated inventory is a graph, not a list. It shows how resources connect, depend on each other, and inherit risk. ## How imPAC Delivers Federated Inventory ### Asset Chain Asset Chain creates a federated inventory that spans your entire cloud estate. It maps every resource and relationship across providers, updated continuously. ### Time Machine Time Machine adds the temporal dimension. See your inventory at any point in time. Track how it evolved. Compare states. ### Compliance Mapping Map your federated inventory to compliance frameworks automatically. Know which resources fall under which controls, and whether they're compliant. ### Evidence Generation Generate audit evidence directly from your federated inventory. No more screenshot collections—just accurate, timestamped data. ## The Result With a federated inventory: - **Auditors** get accurate, real-time views instead of stale spreadsheets - **Security teams** understand relationships and risk propagation - **Compliance managers** map controls to actual resources, not theoretical architectures - **Executives** get confidence that compliance is real, not theater --- Stop failing at compliance. Start with inventory. [See how imPAC's federated inventory works](/request-demo)