Firms should 'familiarise themselves' with the cloud and SaaS

27/07/2010

IT security IT security

Businesses need to fully understand software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud computing just in case the adoption of such technologies becomes compulsory, it has been suggested.

Information management company Iron Mountain recently released figures showing half of respondents to a survey by the firm were using SaaS for mission-critical applications, showing their increasing confidence using that and cloud computing.

"Some of these decisions about what you're going to use will not be made for technical reasons, it will be mandated," said Doug Miles, UK managing director for the Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM) Europe.

He said that SaaS is a more tangible concept than cloud computing as it resides on a server and is sold by a provider that "you can see and touch and kick", thus reducing the risks to information security.

However, Mr Miles added this was not necessarily the case with cloud computing.

The cloud can pose risks to companies' data protection and IT security as it is usually managed by a third-party provider, increasing the chances of valuable data falling into the wrong hands.

Get the latest industry news straight to your inbox, click here to sign up.ADNFCR-1355-ID-800006106-ADNFCR


More in our Archive