Cloud solutions are, or until recently were less trusted by some users. This was oftentimes related with the misunderstanding of mechanisms behind and the security capabilities of broadly understood “clouds”.
As we are naturally afraid of what is innovative and little known, cloud solutions may have also evoked a certain amount of skepticism in some users. The GDPR regulations only contributed to the emergence of further doubts – SAP cloud solutions meet the requirements (the data is always owned by the customer, not SAP, and is stored for the required time as archival data). Comparison of the security of on-premise solutions against
cloud solutions could itself be the subject of a separate article.
However, the dynamics of world events in 2020 revealed new, genuine threats. The pandemic has led to the freezing of entire economies and has significantly limited our mobility, which we’ve taken for granted so far.
A positive COVID-19 test result for a single employee may lead to a complete office shutdown for weeks. In such scenario, even the best secured local server will prove to be a far less sensible solution.
Employees may be denied on-premise system access in the event of a sudden blockade of national borders, regions or cities. It is usually possible, of course, to connect via properly configured VPN, but the continuity of an on-premise system would still need to be preserved. Cloud solutions, on the other hand, are nearly completely immune to this type of threat. Users can access the system from any device using a web browser or via an authorized native application – SAP allows authorized devices to be managed within the application.
The issue of security of the devices themselves is a separate matter, which still affects the overall level of security. The organization’s IT security should be carried out on organizational level as well as by educating system users.
The security of a cloud solution is largely the responsibility of the service provider. The fact that larger and larger companies – Walmart, Henkel, Shell, Siemens, Śnieżka, Ruukki – decide to use SAP cloud solutions indicate
that they are only gaining credence. This is a good place to mention another strength of a cloud solution – other than just location independence of end users.
Namely that this type of solution benefits from the sum of the experiences of all users globally, which translates into continuous improvement of products through frequent updates, not only in terms of security but also system functionalities. In the case of SAP Sales, Service or Marketing Cloud, system upgrades are regular and take place once a quarter.
Undoubtedly, we are unable to know what challenges we are to face in the future. However, it’s quite a different story when it comes to emerging trends, which we can observe – especially in such a dynamic year as 2020. These bring natural reluctance towards being in a large group of people if not avoidance of other people in general, evasion of public transportation but also office spaces.
On the other hand, trends also are that people are more willing to change their environment, work away from metropolitan areas and most importantly in general to work remotely.
Application of a cloud solution is a perfect match for such trends. With already sophisticated communicators such as MS Teams, Skype, Webex it’s now the time to direct attention to cloud business solutions that complete the picture if a contemporary employee – location independent yet efficient. Such efficiency is backed by system, oftentimes somehow cloud based.
SAP Cloud system implementation is by the book meant to take place in a short time perspective, but also can be done entirely remotely. Be up to the challenges of today and prepared for the threats of tomorrow with SAP Cloud solutions.
