Security concerns in the Philippines remain a top concern for executives looking after information security in multi-national corporations, according to Helen Masters, SVP and GM of Asia Pacific at Infor.
Masters cited a study by Kaspersky Lab, which discovered that uncontrolled cloud expansion is the top security concern for 58% of Chief Information Security Officers (CIOs). “Cloud adoption in the Philippines continues to grow and as companies move towards the cloud to expand and scale-up their operations, maintaining the integrity of the system becomes an increasingly difficult task. Companies are also constantly competing to recruit a limited talent pool to build a secure and seamless cloud environment for the company,” she said.
But this is only one of the (still present) challenges facing the country’s total cloud adoption.
Also a challenge – second to the above – is data privacy and compliance.
“Companies often need guidance on how to manage data collection, processing and sharing in order to ensure that they adhere to the laws in place not just in the Philippines but other countries as well,” Masters said. “Compliance to the regulations can be challenging to navigate, especially in dealing with data gathered from the public, and sometimes certain companies may choose to avoid the situation as they lack the know-how.”
Yet another challenge – among the top three – is the difficulty in understanding the breadth and complexity of cloud solutions.
“Company-wide cloud implementations often involve comprehensive solutions that affect all departments of the company that require both breadth and depth of knowledge. There are instances where customers have a misunderstanding of our cloud offering and pricing model due to them not being able to see the value proposition.”
For Infor in particular, said Masters, “generally, it is a fear of a lack of security and being compliant with the law that adds on to the time taken to make a decision on adopting cloud solutions from the traditional on-premise system. Some struggle to have the confidence to make decisions due to the unfamiliarity and hence perceived high risks associated with cloud adoption.”
But Masters said that Infor has been able to help companies deal with these (continuing) challenges.
“We allude to the success stories of our clients in the Philippines and in the region, in cloud adoption for their companies as evidence of the expertise, professionalism and care we take in ensuring the success of our customers. This gives a further sense of security in entrusting their cloud expansion efforts to us,” she said.
In the case of Infor at least, having specialized offerings helps.
In the end, “by showing our customers’ successes in their implementations and thereafter improvements in their processes, sales and operations. We are also known to be specialized by industries that few other players are able to match in scale and depth as Infor,” Masters ended.
