Software as a Service (SaaS) is changing the way small, medium-sized and large organisations operate by enabling greater mobility, increasing office productivity and enhancing team collaboration - not to mention the convenience of handing over the responsibility of managing software products to a SaaS provider.
But, there are some risks involved when jumping over to SaaS. Here are three that you need to consider, keeping in mind that these risks can be minimised if you take a proactive approach to your IT and SaaS migration.
1. Regulatory and legal risks
According to Perspeyscs, a leading provider of cloud data production solutions, Australia’s data privacy laws and regulations make it extremely difficult for organisations to move sensitive information to SaaS providers that store data outside of Australia.
I agree with this 100%. Changes to the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) in March 2014 highlighted the particular importance of APP Chapter 8 - cross-order disclosure of personal information.
APP Chapter 8 reads, “Before an APP entity discloses personal information to an overseas recipient, the entity must take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the APPs in relation to the information.”
This is very important. If you do use a SaaS provider that hosts data outside of Australia, you must take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach any APPs.
If you don’t, you risk opening yourself up to legal action.
Related: The Dark and Dangerous Legal Side of Cloud Computing: Data Sovereignty
2. Downtime risks
As your organisation moves more functions into the cloud with SaaS providers, you potentially put yourself at risk of more downtime. Since SaaS involves passing on all the responsibility of your software to a SaaS provider, you are essentially relying on them to keep everything up and running.
No longer do you have the control. If something goes wrong and your mission-critical functions go down for half a day, how much will that impact your organisation? That’s the big risk of passing on responsibility to a cloud provider with the SaaS model.
To minimise this risk, you need to ensure the providers you work with have a good history of minimal downtime. You may also look at minimising the use of SaaS providers for mission-critical functions like finance.
3. Data security
With all the talk in the media about data breaches from iCloud and Dropbox, it’s sensible to ask yourself if your data is secure in the cloud with SaaS providers.
The short answer is yes, but…
With any SaaS solution, there is still a risk of your sensitive data being breached. Again, it comes down to being comfortable passing on the responsibility to a SaaS provider. Do you trust that they have the level of security needed to ensure your data is safe?
To minimise your risk, do your due diligence on your SaaS provider. Make sure they have procedures in place to protect your data.
Before your take advantage of SaaS, understand the risks
SaaS provides many benefits to organisations. There’s a reason why 72% of organisations are using SaaS providers. But like any new technology, proper planning, evaluation and screening is required to ensure the move to SaaS is a successful one.
Before you sign any lengthy contracts, I challenge you to ask your prospective SaaS providers questions about these risks we have discussed today. If anything doesn’t meet your needs or requirements, look for an alternative provider.