Cloud security risks 'overstated'

Andre le Roux

As South African contact centres become increasingly interested in the benefits cloud can offer them, we tend to hear the same concerns arising: what about the security of my data? How do I control my systems? And how do I guarantee continuity and support from my service provider?

As specialists in the contact centre industry, with the bulk of our sales now in the cloud space, we have these conversations a lot, particularly in South Africa, which is lagging global cloud adoption.

The truth of the matter is that the majority of cloud solutions are going to be more secure than your on-premise systems. Cloud is mature, and most service providers go to great lengths to ensure bullet-proof security. In contrast, anyone could likely slip into your data centre and compromise the data there.

If you extend the security conversation to include business continuity and disaster recovery - both of which are critical in preventing the risk of business downtime and data losses - then cloud presents a compelling and cost-effective solution to BC and DR concerns. With an effective cloud solution in place, business can be assured of limited downtime and rapid recovery from unforeseen circumstances.

However, the responsibility for security in the cloud rests with the enterprise, and its due diligence in choosing the most appropriate service provider and service level agreements.

When selecting a cloud partner, the enterprise must carefully assess that service provider's stability, track record and corporate strategies. You need to check their compliance, policies and appropriate security certifications, such as the ISO 27001.

In addition, the business should look at the actual cloud services being offered and consider whether they have redundant data centres, flexible and compliant architecture, isolation of customers and watertight SLAs. These SLAs need to be specific and appropriate for the business's needs - for example, they need to outline service response time, maximum down time, and conditions for terminating the agreement. Their software must also be mature and proven, and network operations centre should offer proactive, 24/7/365 monitoring.

In cases where enterprises' strategies or operating models demand that they retain control over data or systems, private or hybrid clouds allow them to enjoy some of the benefits of the cloud, while still retaining the control they need. Private or hybrid models lend themselves to later migration to the public cloud, where the full benefits of cloud computing become apparent.

In fact, the hybrid model may be the most appropriate solution for many contact centres in South Africa at this stage.

This model has the advantages of: