[oc_spacer height=”15″]Companies worldwide have long recognised its advantages – and German companies too have made ground relating to cloud strategy. At the same time, some reservations still prevail towards the cloud, in particular with regard to data security. Here, you can discover how companies take advantage of the benefits of the cloud without giving up their control over sensitive data.
The Cloud Booms – Control over Sensitive Data Continues to be a Concern
A study of the German speaking SAP user group (DSAG) reveals: 48% of business customers of the market leader for business software do use (cloud or cloud-based) marketing and sales solutions, however, this is different for core processes, such as finance. Only 10% of SAP users entrust cloud applications with such sensitive data. This is not because the potential of the data cloud has not been recognised or because digitalisation is being put on hold.
On the contrary: 83.5% of German businesses describe the cloud as important for their business and 78.1% indicated that they already have a cloud strategy, according to a 2018 study carried out on behalf of Citrix. Accordingly, the cloud will be increasingly developed, only 7.3% do not plan to invest in cloud infrastructure.
“Many customers want to retain control of their core processes.”
Marco Lenck, Chair DSAG
However, the study also uncovered perceived concerns regarding the cloud: 30.2% of German IT decision makers doubt that public cloud infrastructures are suitable to store and process sensitive data securely. A total of 62.7% of the interviewed companies in Germany store their data (additionally) on-premises. “Many customers want to retain control of their core processes“, sums up DSAG chair Marco Lenck.
Sensitive Data in the Public Cloud
The analysis regarding the status quo of Cloud Computing 2018 by oneclick AG also came to similar conclusions. In total 73% of the surveyed decision makers indicated that they feel that data in the public cloud is more or significantly more difficult to protect. Around one third even reported a data security incident with the in-use public cloud solution (19%) or a suspicion (13%) to that effect in the past 12 months. Given the risk potential of not sufficiently secured public cloud solutions, the prevalent scepticism of many companies to move sensitive data in the cloud seems to be justified.
The Cloud Paradigma: Pressure to Innovate vs. Concerns Regarding Sensitive Data
Recent surveys show clearly that software vendors have to serve different interests. On one hand they want to introduce new functions to set themselves apart from the competition – for which cloud computing is ideally suited. On the other hand, there is a large base of existing customers, who do not wish to move sensitive data into the cloud. Lenck therefore demands further development of applications which do not need the data cloud.
Expectations of customers, which are particularly focused on data security, are justified. Maintenance fees, which are also to cover updates, often make up 20% of the contract value. For software vendors such as SAP this is the core business: “Germany is a very mature market, most SAP customers already introduced an ERP system many years ago“, explained Frank Niemann, analyst at Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC). While the large majority of businesses modernise their IT, the cloud is not necessarily the best solution for their requirements and concerns.
Mobile Access to Software Applications and Data, while Keeping Full Control over Sensitive Data
Those who wish to benefit from innovative software solutions via mobile devices, whilst at the same time being able to secure sensitive data with full data sovereignty in an on-site data centre, will find an ideal and comprehensive solution in the oneclick™ platform for the provision and distribution of software applications and data. On-site saved data and applications are made available to staff based in home offices or field sales, to remote units (suppliers, partners, service providers etc.), without them having to be modified beforehand in any form. Applications and data are are transmitted as an enrypted stream to any terminal device – both completely location and time independent. oneclick™ guarantees data security and protection at any time as no data leaves the in-house data centre. Comprehensive applications such as SAP are made available immediately via oneclick™, without having to execute VPN or local clients, such as SAP GUI (Graphical User Interface, which process user interaction and screen display on the end device). In this way, the Workspace-as-a-Service by oneclick™ enables intuitive and location independent collaboration in the digital age, while offering complete data sovereignty and security of the internal network.
Sources:
- http://blog.wiwo.de/look-at-it/2018/07/31/deutschland-beim-cloud-computing-nur-unteres-mittelmass-in-europa/
- https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/it-medien/it-investitionen-viele-firmen-folgen-sap-nicht-in-die-cloud/23194612.html?social=xi-ot-li-ne-ko-&xing_share=news&ticket=ST-2565066-zZrK6nfrfWHgIqbTnGyy-ap3
- http://blog.wiwo.de/look-at-it/2018/05/24/zwei-drittel-aller-unternehmer-nutzen-bereits-cloud-computing-ein-drittel-public-cloud/
Image source:
- Image 1: rawpixel @ unsplash.com
