In the past two years, cloud computing and mobility have emerged as mainstream technologies, transforming enterprise technology strategies. What was initially a phenomenon of consumer technology moving into the business world is now driving the enterprise-wide IT ecosystem. As a result, it is unsurprising that security in the cloud has become a very valid concern.
Quinton Pienaar, CEO of Agilitude, Africa’s first Salesforce.com reseller says that there is no escaping the immense risk that comes with cloud computing: “Safeguarding enterprise data is important, which is why so many companies are still reluctant to opt for cloud-based services.
“The issue these businesses’ face is that the creation of a collaborative environment demands the use of cloud technology. It facilitates mobility by sharing files, retrieving data and storing documents. In fact, there are so many tasks that are carried out over cloud, making it impossible to ignore as a platform and differentiator of the future.”
It is thus no surprise that securing cloud technology is among the top trends in enterprise mobility. Pienaar says that he is hoping to see South African companies set up more local clouds, while others may pursue integrating personal clouds within enterprise clouds, without compromising on security.
“Security must always be a focus and good governance, processes and policy should be followed no matter the technology platform,” stresses Pienaar.
He says that if security continues to be a concern, there are solutions such as CipherCloud. “This is perfect for those industries that require additional security in the cloud where information protection is a priority and enables businesses to overcome risks to data privacy, residency, security, and regulatory compliance.”
By using this kind of technology, Pienaar says the entire lifecycle of data is protected. This includes discovery, encryption, tokenisation, data loss prevention, malware detection, and ongoing monitoring and anomaly detection of your users’ cloud activity.”
He says the benefit of many cloud and mobility platforms is the technology provider has dedicated teams ensuring the platform is secure and the result is that often they are more secure than the traditional on-premise IT systems.
“There is also a strong drive towards the formation of Mobility Managed Services (MMS). With enterprise mobility a declared reality, there’s a sincere opportunity for IT companies to prove their worth as they seek ways to offer managed mobility services.”
With security issues resolved, Pienaar says that enterprises must continue to leverage the cloud, not just to improve customer service but to also closely monitor adoption and use of devices, applications and services that allow them to experiment with technologies in a managed way. “Cloud and mobility are a superb team to help any business accelerate its growth anytime, anywhere.”