What are we using?
Inventory cloud services, AI, SaaS, data, identities, vendors, owners, and spending.
Outcome: One reliable technology baseline.
Responsible Cloud™ Framework · Version 1.0
An open discipline for governing cloud, AI, and technology risk.
The Responsible Cloud Framework defines the questions, capability pillars, and method organizations use to move from technology uncertainty to accountable action. It is documented here in full, free to read and apply.
What the framework is
A discipline, not a product.
Responsible Cloud is a practical, vendor-neutral discipline for governing cloud services, AI, SaaS platforms, data, vendors, cybersecurity, accountability, and technology spending. It gives any organization — whether working alone or with an advisor — a shared vocabulary, a set of executive questions, eight capability pillars, and a five-stage method for turning technology complexity into evidence, responsibility, and business outcomes.
The framework is maintained and published by Responsible Cloud. It does not require a purchase, a login, or a vendor relationship to read or apply. Responsible Cloud, the advisory practice, is one way to apply it — not the only way.
Version 1.0 · Published 2026 · Maintained by Paul Turner and Responsible Cloud. This page is the canonical reference; other pages on this site summarize or apply it.
The five executive questions
Every application of the framework starts here.
The questions convert technical complexity into evidence, responsibility, and a business outcome. They apply equally to a self-run review and a professionally facilitated one.
What could go wrong?
Identify cybersecurity, privacy, operational, vendor, compliance, financial, and AI risks.
Outcome: Risk understood in business terms.
What should we fix first?
Prioritize work by impact, likelihood, urgency, dependencies, effort, cost, and quick wins.
Outcome: A defensible sequence of action.
Who is accountable?
Clarify executive decisions, operational ownership, policies, controls, exceptions, and evidence.
Outcome: Every material action has an owner.
What will it cost?
Connect budgets, cloud spend, internal effort, provider support, and risk reduction.
Outcome: An investment roadmap leaders can fund.
The eight capability pillars
What the framework governs.
Each pillar is a distinct area of technology risk and accountability. Every Responsible Cloud service maps back to one or more of these pillars — see how services apply them.
Cloud & SaaS Visibility
A complete, owned inventory of cloud platforms and SaaS applications in use, including access, data, and cost.
AI Governance
Visibility and oversight of AI tools, the data they touch, the decisions they influence, and who is accountable for them.
Cybersecurity Readiness
Essential safeguards, responsibilities, and evidence, informed by recognized guidance such as NIST CSF 2.0 and CISA CPG.
Vendor & Third-Party Risk
Consistent due diligence on the providers an organization depends on for critical operations and sensitive data.
Data Governance
Classification, retention, access, and handling expectations for the data an organization is responsible for.
Accountability & Ownership
Named decision owners, operational responsibilities, policies, exceptions, and the evidence that a decision was made.
Cost Governance
Technology spending connected to business purpose, ownership, renewal decisions, and waste indicators.
Incident Readiness
Rehearsed leadership decisions, communications, and recovery priorities for a disruptive technology or cyber event.
The method
Five stages turn the pillars into accountable action.
Discovery establishes facts, assessment identifies risk, prioritization recommends treatment, governance records client decisions and responsibility, and improvement distinguishes implementation, verification, and residual risk. The full method is documented on its own page.
Read the full Responsible Cloud Method1. DiscoverBuild the evidence baseline.
2. AssessIdentify and evaluate business risk.
3. PrioritizeRecommend and sequence treatment.
4. GovernRecord client decisions and owners.
5. ImproveTrack implementation, verification, and residual risk.
Status matters: identified risk, recommended remediation, client acceptance, implementation, verification, and residual risk are separate records. Applying the framework does not itself establish that remediation occurred or was effective.
Framework alignment
Built on recognized guidance, not invented from scratch.
The framework adapts established guidance and operating practices to the realities of small and growing organizations, rather than replacing them.
NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0NIST AI Risk Management FrameworkCISA Cybersecurity Performance GoalsAWS Shared Responsibility ModelAWS Well-Architected FrameworkMicrosoft 365 governanceGoogle Workspace governanceSaaS vendor due diligenceData classification and retentionIncident tabletop exercisesExecutive risk reporting
Use of these resources does not imply endorsement, certification, formal affiliation, audit assurance, or guaranteed compliance.
Apply the framework
Two ways to put it to work.
The framework itself is free. Applying it well takes time, evidence, and often a second set of hands — Responsible Cloud offers both paths.
Self-directed
Read, adapt, and apply it yourself.
Use the Knowledge Center and Resource Library to study the pillars, download the Executive Guide, and start the five-question conversation internally.
Professionally facilitated
Have Responsible Cloud apply it with you.
Every Responsible Cloud advisory service and training program is a direct, mapped implementation of this framework — not a separate offering.
Put the framework into practice
Take the Five Questions Into Your Organization
Start self-directed with the free Executive Guide, or bring in Responsible Cloud to facilitate the full method.
Email links open your email application. Do not include passwords, regulated data, customer records, or confidential system details in an initial inquiry.