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former_member250299
Discoverer
Many times when I talk with customers about BusinessObjects Cloud and Cloud in general I am confronted with expressions like "No we would never go to cloud, it is not secure enough for our data". This is reason enough for me to write this blog and give an insight into my own perspective on the topic of cloud security.

I think the Germans are some of the most critical persons in regard to usage of cloud software. But since the whole IT application layer is smoothly confronted with a big shift in the direction of cloud software we should rethink our position.

There are many reasons why a shift towards cloud is a really good thing, but this should not be part of the blog today;)

Private data- vs business data-security


The most important question if we talk about the reasons of fear against cloud is - Where does it come from?

To get into this a little deeper, I want to point out that there is a difference between the topic of private data security and business data security.

“Private data security”  is something we are actually confronted with in all medias etc. It is about your own personal & private data which is captured with your smartphone and so on. For me personally this is a very critical topic. I am one of the nerdy guys who really cares about my own data having my own raspberry pi at home capturing all the stupid Adtracking software etc.

BUT I see a huge difference towards the topic of business data security. At this point in time we care about our business data much more than we do with our private data. And there is one big and apparently the most important point - if we use cloud software on business side - we really have to pay for it!!!

Most of the insecure private data stuff is free of charge - to be honest nothing is really free of charge but you just don't see what’s happening with the currency “data”…

 

Cloud vs Hosting vs Own Systems OnPrem


In Germany we have many customers using our hosting services. There are several reasons to do this, but my question is:

What is the difference between hosting and cloud from a customer perspective?

The answer is - there is no! It is just the vendor who differs. If we compare our datacenter in Germany with SAPs - both are highly professional datacenters located in Germany. You have the same "risks" (come to that later) on both sides.

This may be an other topic if you use cloud software from other vendors, but even Microsoft did get it and for German Office 365 customers they can guarantee a German datacenter.

Let us now come to the last point here cloud/hosting vs own systems on premise:

Of course there are many bigger customers having their own professional datacenter, but the most critical customers in terms of cloud are the SME's what I have seen so far. There are not many who are able to have their own professional datacenter and most of the systems are not really actively maintained by IT (in terms of security).

And now be true to yourself - In today's complexity of system / network security stuff - do you really think your data is more safe than if it is lying in a datacenter?

As a conclusion i really think that the concerns against cloud software is more a feeling than reality. The reality is at least the opposite of it!

This is just my personal view on this topic and I really respect the point of view of Cloud Fearers but I believe they should rethink their position.

I hope I was able to give some food for thoughts and I really would appreciate discussing this further, so please comment on it;)

 

BR,

Tobias
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