The WikiLeaks story has prompted the business community to ask itself: "If the U.S. government's information isn't safe, how safe could my organization's data be?"
Financial institutions may have even greater concerns than other organizations. As a recent posting on the BankThink blog — "
The article indicates that institutions that adopt cloud-based solutions in the near term will do so by building their own private infrastructures. Though I understand the motivation, financial institutions do not need to build expensive systems on their own; proprietary systems often fall flat when it comes to realizing the cost efficiencies and scalability that cloud computing is, by nature, intended to deliver. Instead, using a third-party, privately hosted cloud provider can let banks benefit from scalability without giving up the crucial security component a proprietary system offers.
Service-level agreements do indeed become crucial in a relationship with a third-party provider of cloud services. Information chiefs should look for clearly defined terms in such areas as security, privacy and data accessibility, as well as a clearly defined termination clause to help protect the institution should any data be lost while being transferred to another platform.
Innovations in cloud-based services are helping create efficiencies for businesses and consumers alike; financial institutions should not overlook these benefits. And though safely storing data should always be a top priority, information chiefs should not view efficiency and security as mutually exclusive.
Rich Walsh
President, document archive and repository services
Viewpointe