New platform brings security, compliance, licensing, identity, AI and cloud operations together to give IT teams a clearer understanding of their technology environment 

Almaden, Inc. today announced the general availability of CIQ Cloud, its Operational Visibility platform designed to help Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and internal IT teams monitor, understand, govern and optimize increasingly complex cloud and SaaS environments. 

Modern organizations rely on Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, cloud infrastructure, SaaS applications, identity services, security platforms, DNS and a rapidly growing range of AI technologies. Each generates valuable operational data, but that information is typically distributed across separate administration portals, dashboards and reports. 

CIQ Cloud brings these signals together to provide what Almaden calls Operational Visibility: a consolidated understanding of the health, security, compliance, usage, cost and operational performance of the technology services an organization depends upon. 

“IT teams don’t have a shortage of data. The challenge is understanding what matters,” said Peter Stevens, Chief Information Officer at Almaden, Inc. “Monitoring can tell you that a service is available, but that doesn’t tell you whether licenses are being wasted, security posture is deteriorating, privileged accounts are properly protected, AI usage is increasing unexpectedly or whether an operational risk requires attention. That broader understanding is what we mean by Operational Visibility.” 

CIQ Cloud applies a continuous lifecycle to this challenge: 

Discover → Monitor → Understand → Govern → Optimize 

Rather than replacing the specialist platforms organizations already use, CIQ Cloud provides an operational intelligence layer across them, allowing information from different technologies and vendors to be consolidated and analyzed within a common operational view. 

At general availability, CIQ Cloud provides visibility across areas including Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, Microsoft Secure Score, Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, Power BI, Google Workspace, AI services, DNS, licensing, security and compliance, alongside a growing ecosystem of IT management integrations. 

The platform is particularly suited to Managed Service Providers, where the challenge of fragmented operational information is multiplied across dozens or hundreds of customer environments. 

Multi-tenant Operational Visibility allows MSPs to identify customers requiring attention, standardize cloud monitoring and strengthen Quarterly Business Reviews with evidence covering security, compliance, technology adoption, licensing, risk and optimization. 

“An MSP should be able to demonstrate more than how many tickets it closed last quarter,” Stevens added. “Operational Visibility creates the opportunity to show customers how their environment is changing, where risks exist, where money can be saved and what should be improved next.” 

For enterprise and internal IT teams, CIQ Cloud provides a consolidated view across technology areas that are frequently managed by different teams and through different administrative platforms. 

CIQ Cloud is available now, with a free 14-day trial available for organizations and MSPs wanting to explore Operational Visibility. 

For more information, visit ciqcloud.ai.