IT security can be expensive. For years, large enterprises have used IT service providers for security and data storage as well as for technical support. Smaller businesses often ran their security in-house, wary of the high cost of outsourcing data operations and security to an outside IT management company.
The Rise of the Cloud
The advent of cloud computing for data quality and other data operations has allowed small and medium-sized companies —the majority of businesses worldwide— to take advantage of massive distributed processing power to achieve rapid results, greater scalability and impressive cost savings. The service standards once available only from expensive IT consultancy and management firms are now available on demand to smaller businesses around the world through the cloud.
Small businesses are not the only ones migrating to the cloud. IT management service providers have brought many large enterprise clients with them to the cloud as the standard IT service range expands to include cloud storage and software-as-a-service offerings. The convenience of storing, accessing and processing data on a service provider’s servers via an Internet connection is appealing to most businesses. However, many are concerned about issues of cloud security, and enterprise needs security to survive.
A Question of Security
With the rise of big data, increasing rates of cybercrime, and tightening data protection and privacy legislation, many businesses of all sizes face a dilemma: more data than ever is at greater risk than ever, yet it must be secured more thoroughly than ever.
Security was, until recently, a deal-breaker for some companies considering cloud services. Survey results from technology research group IDC show that in 2008, security was the main concern that prevented adoption of cloud services for business. In 2011, however, less than half the responding companies cited security worries as their leading concern, and the number of businesses already using cloud computing services is rising swiftly.
Safer in the Cloud
By outsourcing to the cloud not only data security and storage, but also the processing locations of the data, vital files may be doubly protected from hacking. Cloud computing security features may include firewalls; high strength data encryption; customisable user privileges; activity logs and auditing; anomalous activity notifications; and secured collaborative workspaces.
Even entry-level cloud computing services, and those not explicitly security-related, can improve a business’ overall security because cloud services are maintained and secured by the provider rather than relying on the user to keep antivirus programs up-to-date and apply recommended software security patches. Jim Reavis of Cloud Security Alliance has commented that for small and medium businesses, migrating to the cloud “ends up being almost in all cases a security upgrade.”
If you’re curious about cloud security and how Match2Lists helps to protect your data, feel free to get in touch or take a look at our security statement. You can also take a free trial of Match2Lists to see how it works for you.
Happy matching!
