Although the majority of enterprises may have been reluctant so far, the future of data storage is in the cloud. It is rapidly improving and today’s cloud computing services are fairly secure and there are many great cloud compliance solutions out there to choose from.
However, organizations within data and security sensitive areas still can’t allow storing all their data in the cloud, even though decent services are available on the market. Therefore, regardless of the ever-growing popularity of cloud computing, on-premise architectures still might be winning the game.
Why?
Choosing a cloud-computing approach is great to start small businesses quickly. It requires less planning ahead and you don’t need to invest as much up-front. Cloud based services give these companies the opportunity to expand their system as the business grows, because of the ubiquitous pay-as-you-go model. Cloud is a vendor specific concept. The service provider takes care of system monitoring, maintaining and upgrading tasks, so their customers can focus more on business strategy. Nevertheless, when you choose a cloud provider, you accept that some aspects of your business will be operating according to your vendor’s agenda. Choosing a service where the policy and the compliance terms fit within your criteria is crucial, so it is worth walking the extra mile and doing research upfront.
Is it a safe option?
Safety is definitely the biggest factor to concern when choosing the type of storage service and it might not fulfill all needs. Organizations involved in certain areas like finance or health, banks and insurance companies process personal data and their calls and messages often hold data about contracts, agreements and also sensitive private information.
These companies are obliged to operate in a regulated manner and are required to comply with legislations such as MiFID II, GDPR, etc. Although cloud computing enables compliance towards the aforementioned legal requirements, after research it is critical to formulate a cloud strategy to guarantee that the legal obligations that apply to your business are fulfilled and no areas are left uncovered. Your data is handled by your cloud service provider, but at the end of the day it is you who is responsible.
In the EU one of the main concerns is the geographical storage of data. Cloud providers have so-called availability zones (AZs) which are basically isolated locations within data center regions. Public cloud services originate and operate from these zones, however in the EU it is not allowed to move data outside the geographical borders of the EU.
The reason for the regional separation of data storage varies, the most important ones are protecting the data stored and the proximity to end users. The providers usually offer locally redundant storage services, which might be a solution in this particular case.
A less valid concern might be that the cloud is an untraceable online space. It is often a black box from the customers’ perspective and therefore a great deal of trust is needed on part of the users of this service since this space is shared with other companies, maybe with your competitors.
The technical challenges, the vital importance of deep strategic consideration and planning can easily refrain less prepared customers and even service-ready but data or security critical businesses from moving to the cloud. Meaning that these businesses still tend to rely mainly on on-premise architectures so they can have full control over their system and databases.
Although constructing, monitoring and maintaining a full architecture of servers requires preliminary preparation and is costly, on-prem gives you the freedom to set your own policy according to your own security and compliance standards. That independence demands deliberate planning and budgeting ahead both technical and business strategy wise. Though maintaining and upgrading your business may come with more technical difficulties, you don’t have to worry about factors like owning your own data, compliance and data security.
Call Centers
The aforementioned companies usually operate customer service via call centers. The charm of call centers lies in their huge, multichannel call reception capacity. These data and security critical services generally outsource their customer contact management to call centers, who then administer customer service, as well as recording, handling and processing of agent-customer calls. The technical device itself, which is a telephone exchange computer software system, is also called a call center, which performs this function. With the implementation of effective communication control software, paired with a compliance recording system, call centers can guarantee that even your sensitive customer data is managed according to your company policy.
In conclusion, cloud based solutions are normally cheaper and optimal to store regular data. Regardless of the technical difficulties, in case of sensitive data, on-prem is the safe way to go.
In a few years the market has gotten so well saturated that you don’t necessarily need to choose between one or the other solution. Providers try to offer you a wide range of options to make sure you find the best fit for you. Many compliance recording solutions have hybrid options where you can make up a solution tailored specifically to your needs and you can get the best of both worlds. Through business analysis you can estimate the amount of servers you need on your premises and how much cloud storage space your business requires. Dividing your dataset, you can implement a mixed environment method, which can be a nice transition toward future developments.
The popularity of cloud services is growing exponentially which is only strengthened by the increasing demand for remote work. With the CARIN RaaS approach, all you need is a local internet connection and recording is simplified for logging in and replaying calls. We, at TC&C strive to support your business with the widest range of options, so you can stay afloat in all scenarios. CARIN is available both as an on-premise architecture and as a cloud service and it can be easily integrated into any unified communication environment.
Contact us to get more info on CARIN in the Cloud.
