Data Security in the Cloud

The most arguable myth about cloud ERP solutions refers to organizational data not being as secured as in an on-premise solution. In fact, SaaS security and privacy of data has proved to be customers’ biggest concern.

The top 4 most important issues about data security in the cloud are:

1. Your data storage location

This issue is related to the physical location of the data. When it comes to cloud ERP vendors, their data centers are housed in multimillion dollar facilities and have a 24/7 security all year long. After all, most cloud providers are actually better with physical security than an onsite solution vendor because they don’t have a lot of staff hanging around the facility. Thus, they are able to control physical access to various parts of the office space.

2. Who has access to your data and when

Access is critical when considering SaaS. You should be aware of whether or not outsiders can get to the data, for example for auditing purposes. Even if cloud ERP providers have Service – Level Agreements (SLAs) on who has access, it is important to ask if local governments can overrule that agreement and in what ways.

3. What device you are using to access data

Devices have different levels of security. Some devices are harder to log in, while some don’t need any log-in information at all. When accessing your data from an application, keep in mind that data access via a mobile application is different than the regular one from a browser.

4. Usability can sacrifice security

Sometimes businesses complicate the authentication process by providing users with numerous passwords for different scenarios, putting overall data   security in danger, since employees might have to write them down and expose them.

At the end of the day, entrusting private business data to an outside hosting service is still making some organizations skeptical. That is, cloud adoption is shadowed by security concerns. Nevertheless, you should consider that security and privacy issues exist whether an organization decides to subscribe to a cloud ERP Solution or license ERP software and implement it onsite.

WebSan Solutions offers a hosted-enterprise business software solution, leveraging the vast capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics GP. Our Hosted Dynamics GP solution is maintained in our state-of-the-art Tier II data center located in Toronto. Your data is secure and accessible when you need it!

Doriana Kote, Marketing Assistant, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Microsoft Dynamics Silver Partner and a CDN top 100 solution provider for 2012.