Char Sample and I did a techtip for cloud VARs on compliance and security services. We focused on that customers might be interested in paying more for in order to insure their data is secured and protected in the cloud. Of course, in order for these services to be worth offering, customers will have to be willing to pay extra for them. Which raises the traditional Catch-22 dilemma – if you can’t trust a provider (insert any trusted provider here: doctor’s office, local policy and safety offices, financial institutions) to protect your critical information without having to pay them extra – should you be trusting them in the first place?
The late comedian George Carlin had a famous routine about “stuff,” and how many of us have so much important stuff that we need to rent rooms in storage facilities to protect the stuff. Storage facilities offer security protections that an average home might not have; strong alarm systems, climate controlled environments, and advanced fire suppression. For your customers, moving data and services “stuff,” including personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI), to a cloud computing model is a bit like putting our important things in a high-end storage facility.
Cloud computing issues and risks
Cloud computing brings considerable business benefit. Costs can be reduced when ongoing administrative tasks and management of software and hardware are transferred off-site. To augment the cost savings and attract customers, VARs can offer cloud computing security services by providing additional security protection, customization overlays and risk mitigation to the cloud offering. For example, VARs can offer to transfer some of the customer risk, in the form of insurance coverage and remuneration for loss, should customer data go missing or services go offline due to cloud provider error.
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