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RPA: Why should you consider automation to achieve operational excellence

reasons to start with RPA AUTOMATION

As we are moving towards rapid development, every business is becoming “intelligent” and constantly finding new ways to reinvent their products and services, amaze their customers, and increase profits. To survive in today’s competitive world, companies of all shapes and sizes are integrating automation into their infrastructure, some of them succeed while others fail. According to Forrester, European businesses will invest between €2.4 and €3.3 billion in automation to boost productivity, including in lower-wage sectors.

 

Higher production and increased productivity are the two biggest advantages commonly attributed to automation. Other benefits related to automation are eliminating or reducing risks of human error on manual data entry tasks to ensure consistent quality in data entry. As businesses today collect enormous amounts of data, automation software can easily track all insights hidden in large portions of, often unused, data.

To start with automation, businesses must ask themselves, what are the goals they want to achieve with automation? Which process do they need to automate? Do they have automation tools and experts? What skills do their staff need to work in an automated environment?

 

Here below is a checklist you need to know before adding automation into your ecosystem:

 

    • Companies must know the goals that they want to achieve by implementing automation in their workflow. They can achieve their goals to make more profit, reduce overall operational costs or get the maximum work done in a minimum time, or efficiently utilize available resources and take appropriate strategic decisions. Once their goal and vision are clear, achieving results is easy and possible.

 

    • Once the goal is clear, the automation of necessary tasks must be number one on the priority list. At this point, the time, budget and human resources must be well calculated respecting the business process, also these three are the main resources and assets that can be saved once the automation process is placed.

 

    • Develop a roadmap that strategically focuses on investments that are needed to create a digital environment.

 

    • According to the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) annual report 2019 by Everest Group, the global independent RPA independent software vendor market surpassed US$1 billion in 2018, with over two-thirds of the revenue coming from software licenses. It shows the availability of so many automation tools that makes it harder to select the right tool a company needs to accomplish its goals. Therefore, they must choose the one which is easy to install by their IT specialist without any extern or vendor support.

 

    • Select and set up a team of employees that can implement smooth change management towards the digital workforce system instead of legacy software and create a continuous deployment plan.

 

    • Train IT managers to recognize opportunities to build and adapt the automation software to their needs and establish a modern technology environment to support the rapid development and adaptation of innovative solutions.

 

    • Companies that are newly introduced to automation tools/software, must keep in mind one of the most crucial factors for long-term survival, which are the running costs and licensing of tools, in addition to that make sure to opt for the tool that provides a smooth and secure data handling, as in automation processes, customer’s private or confidential information can be used.

 

    • Choose the software that will scale along with your automation efforts and provide for a full-scale digital transformation.

 

    • Pay attention to continuous improvement of critical business process planning and operations to develop a robust understanding of the business process and workflow and know what makes the processes tick and what doesn’t.

 

Once the automation strategy is placed, you can redeploy the human workforce to innovate and improve your business processes and deal with other priorities.

 

Sources :

Digitization: Why should companies invest in Artificial Intelligence training

Technology is a key helper on the way to the digital future. Artificial intelligence is considered a crucial future technology in the worldwide economy and more and more companies see an opportunity for their own business in artificial intelligence (AI). Whether predictive maintenance, process optimization, system control, or individualized products – everyone is talking about the fact that everything will be AI-supported in the future if not even function autonomously. AI can also improve processes in companies from production to sales or serve as the basis for new products and services.

 

Artificial intelligence also gives enormous competitive advantages. A survey conducted by McKinsey highlighted that a majority of survey respondents say their organizations have adopted AI capabilities, as AI’s impact on both the bottom line and cost-saving. Regarding the employees, however, there is an urgent need for action as they are poorly prepared for the use of artificial intelligence in this suddenly changing environment. Employees must perform skilled jobs that require more education and training compared to their normal routine jobs.

 

Another survey conducted by the market research company Statista on behalf of the TÜV Association among 1,000 people aged sixteen and over, including 568 employed people has revealed that 78 percent of employers agree that companies need to invest more in training their employees when it comes to AI. Many companies must invest significantly more in further training in artificial intelligence to make their workforce fit for the digital world. This involves both in-depth knowledge for the use of the technology, but also user knowledge since many tools already work with AI today. According to the results of the survey, a start has been made, 28 percent of the employees surveyed have taken part in further training on AI content in the past two years. And 34 percent of those in employment planned to do so within a year.

 

With basic AI knowledge, TÜV association expert Fliege observes considerable deficits in the companies. “Many employees only have a vague idea of ​​what AI is and where they encounter it.” AI is already in use in many cases, sometimes even unnoticed. “Algorithms work quietly in numerous systems – for example in IT security, where they recognize and resist cyber-attacks,” says Fliehe. AI is perceived more strongly in factories, for example, where it supports production control. The use of AI promises more efficiency and greater process automation in production. That doesn’t have to have a negative impact on employment, says Fliege: “Interesting new fields of work can arise for employees because they are relieved of routine activities.” The development is still in its infancy, and a lot is in flux. “A whole new door is opening for companies and employees.” According to Fliehe, the use of AI for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is particularly promising. “They usually have to make do with scarcer resources and are committed to high efficiency.”

 

“Knowledge about artificial intelligence is improving as the technology spreads,” said Stenkamp. At the same time, the attitude of the citizens is also improving. Fifty-one percent of respondents feel something positive when they think of AI, compared to the previous study by the TÜV Association in 2019, this is an increase of five percentage points. On the other hand, only 14 percent feel something negative, two years ago this value was twice as high at 28 percent. Thirty-five percent are neutral (up 14 points).

 

However, one thing is certain: the responsibility of the employees will increase, because they will remain the final decision-making authority. “Users in companies must know that AI decisions are not optimal in every situation,” says Fliehe. It may therefore be necessary to check whether an algorithm has captured all the valuable information. “Human expertise and experience will not become less important through the use of AI, but even more important,” emphasizes Fliehe. Employees would have to be able to guide the algorithm and classify the results. “Employees must become designers and also recognize the limits of AI.” In this way, the employees also contributed to the security of AI systems. “AI applications must not endanger or disadvantage people,” says Fliege. Corresponding legal regulations for the use of AI in security-critical areas are currently being developed in the EU as part of the planned “AI Acts”. The “TÜV AI Lab”, founded last year, supports politicians in developing standardized testing tools for artificial intelligence.

 

To prepare workers for more automated workplaces, professional training must be considered as an individual right. The transition to modern technologies and onwards will be a continuous process. Thus, the training and re-training of employees must not be ignored.

Master Data Strategy: How to achieve greater operational efficiency and improve the customer experience?

Master Data Strategy How to achieve a greater operational efficiency and improve the customer experience

Without a doubt, the corona pandemic has led to a holistic rethinking in many areas of the company. Companies have implemented solutions that make their employees work easier, help them to reduce overall costs, and improve existing business processes and their customer’s experience in parallel. All this can’t be done without good master data. Master data is at the heart of all operational processes. Sourcing, product development, manufacturing, shipping, marketing, and sales all depend on the ability to efficiently collect, manage, and share trusted data on time.

 

Master data management also helps to automate and control error-prone manual processes, enable transparency and insights to make better operational decisions and so organizations can improve the quality of products and services, and accelerate time-to-market.

In order to achieve increased productivity, profitability, and business performance while reducing costs, one must not ignore the quality of the master data, regardless of whether it is customer master data, supplier master data, or article master data. Only superior quality data has a decisive influence on the efficiency of business processes and the quality of corporate decisions. Outdated, incorrect, or missing master data can lead to a loss of sales or weaken the reputation of the customer or supplier.

 

What mistakes can one make in master data management?

 

Management is not involved

Without the support and coordination with the management, the master data management project is doomed to failure. The support of the management right from the start is the only way to dissolve cross-departmental thinking. The senior management officer must ensure that the project team can not only streamline the management of data across departments but also that business processes and procedures can be adjusted across departments if necessary. Such huge changes are rarely received positively, so effective communication in change management is necessary.

 

Master data management is not an IT issue

Master data management is not a technical challenge or problem that only the IT department can solve. This topic must be addressed by the specialist departments. Only the various specialist departments know the content-related requirements for correct and up-to-date data. And they know their own business processes in which the various data are generated or changed. IT can help with the selection and the implementation of MDM solutions, but the specialist departments must take on the technical part here.

 

The long-term vision of the MDM project

As with any project, the MDM project also needs good management within the organization based on a correct goal matrix and a long-term vision for data management. However, this must not tempt you to create the scope of the project in such a way that it is no longer possible to carry it out quickly and efficiently. Agile project management makes it possible for achieving the goals step by step. With an unrealistic project scope, the entire project can quickly fail, and you end up with no result. Most of the time an experienced project manager, possibly external, can help get the project off the ground.

 

Organizational and cultural changes are ignored

No matter how good the project, the goals, and the vision, it will fail if all the different parties in the organization are not brought on board. Those affected and opinion leaders play a key role in the success of the project. The project team often gambles away its own success by doing everything in a quiet little room and in the end, everyone is surprised by the new solution, the result = is rejection. Good change management communication to the affected groups is an essential component of building awareness and support for organizational change and achieving long-term success.

 

The goal of mastering data management is the optimization, improvement, and long-term protection of data quality and data consistency. The main problem is when the master data is stored redundantly in different databases. This leads to time-consuming and costly data comparisons or the introduction of a central MDM system that, as a central data hub, provides the data for all other systems.

#SaaS Software as a Service – Making Strategic choices

Software as a service (SaaS) is the most known branch of cloud computing. It is a delivery model in which applications are hosted and managed in the data center of a service provider, paid for on a subscription basis, and accessed by a browser via an Internet connection. SaaS has become the increasingly popular delivery model for a wide range of business applications. As of 2022, SaaS is worth over $170 billion (Gartner). The SaaS industry has increased in size by around 500% over the past seven years.  Therefore, we’ve decided to list, below, the most common advantages and disadvantages of this model.

#SaaS Software as a Service - How to make real strategic choices

Expression SaaS, used for a decade:

The term “SaaS” for “Software as a Service”, has been commonly used for nearly a decade, while other expressions of cloud computing, such as PaaS – “platform as a service” and IaaS – “Infrastructure as a Service”, are more recent.

Platform as a service (PaaS) refers to the on-demand delivery of software tools and services that enable SaaS applications to be coded and deployed, while an Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) relates to on-demand delivery of operating systems, system maintenance, network capabilities, storage spaces, back-up, and virtualized servers.

An infrastructure hosted in a third-party service provider’s data center is called a “public cloud” infrastructure, while the same technology hosted within a company’s network is referred to as a “private cloud” infrastructure. “Hybrid” cloud environments combine both approaches, with some business processes or workloads remaining in-house, while others (less crucial) are outsourced to public cloud services.

 

Reason to consider SaaS:

For companies, adopting the SaaS model has many potential benefits, including the following.

 

  • Cost reduction: it is economically very tempting to trade the heavy costs of installing, maintaining, and upgrading an on-site IT infrastructure against the cost of operating a SaaS subscription, including in the short to medium term. However, it is important to be aware of the potential hidden costs associated with adopting SaaS.
  • Scalability: As your business grows and you need to add more users, rather than investing in additional software licenses and in-house server capabilities, you can adjust your monthly SaaS subscription as needed.
  • Accessibility: in general, a browser and an internet connection are sufficient to access a SaaS application, which can then be made available on various desktops and mobile devices.
  • Upgrade capability: Your cloud service provider takes care of software and hardware updates, which frees your internal IT department from a considerable workload (in theory, the teams can be redeployed on different tasks, such as integration with existing on-site applications).
  • Resiliency: As the IT infrastructure (and your data) resides in the cloud service provider’s processing center, if your business experiences any kind of disaster, you can become operational again relatively easily from any location equipped with computers connected to the internet.

 

Arguments against SaaS:

Of course, SaaS also has potential disadvantages, which is why the world has not yet completely switched to the madness of cloud software. Some examples:

 

  • Security: the number one concern for companies considering SaaS is often security: if it is a matter of entrusting sensitive business processes and business data to a third-party service provider, it is essential to address issues such as identity and access management, particularly on mobile devices. If your organization uses multiple cloud services, realize that removing access privileges from a former employee can become a nightmare for security.
  • Service interruptions: cloud providers will plan as best they can, service outages are inevitable, whether they are due to a natural disaster, human error, or many intermediate causes. Downtime is always annoying, but a prolonged service interruption can be disastrous when it reaches a critical application. You will need to determine what regulations to apply to your business, ask the right questions to your SaaS provider, and set up a solution to correct any shortcomings.
  • Performance: A browser-based application hosted in a remote processing center and accessed via an Internet connection can cause performance concerns over the software running on a local machine or via the company’s local network. Obviously, some tasks will be better suited than others to the SaaS model (at least if the internet speed isn’t a problem). Meanwhile, application performance management tools can help organizations and service providers to monitor how their applications work.
  • Data mobility: the SaaS market is teeming with startups, some of which will inevitably fail. What happens to your carefully orchestrated data and business processes if your service provider puts a key on the door or if you need to switch SaaS providers for any other reason?
  • Integration: Companies that embrace multiple SaaS applications or want to connect hosted software to existing on-premises applications, are faced with the problem of software integration.

 

Conclusion

The SaaS market is exploding startups are exploring multiple niches in many software categories, established players acquire and integrate the most promising new services, and brokers in cloud services facilitate the transition of enterprises to the cloud. For new businesses it is virtually self-evident to deploy quickly and pay them through a monthly subscription, rather than investing a generous sum in an on-site IT infrastructure and in-house technical support. The biggest problem faced by small businesses is the huge choice that is already available in the SaaS market.

Large companies have another type of problem to manage when adopting SaaS, focused on integration with existing on-premises enterprise applications (many of which may well be locked by expensive contracts). Still, companies that seek to expand into new regions or adopt new “social” business processes may well consider that SaaS is the most cost-effective way to proceed.

What is a CRM system and why is the right choice a crucial success factor?

A CRM system, Customer Relationship Management, is a software solution for managing each customer relationship and the associated interactions of a company with existing and potential customers. A real competitive asset for companies, CRM software, collects and centralizes all customer data. They help companies to get to know their existing customers better, win new leads and ultimately increase sales. The CRM tool not only simplify customer relationship management but also automate time-consuming tasks. A CRM makes easier to manage each customer relationship and the associated interactions of a company with existing and potential customers.

Customer management system CRM

A real competitive asset for companies, CRM software, collects and centralizes all customer data. They help companies to get to know their existing customers better, win new leads and ultimately increase sales. The CRM tool not only simplify customer relationship management but also automate time-consuming tasks. From a growth perspective, CRM helps to find leads, track prospects, and nurture them through the sales pipeline. CRM is also used to maintain customer loyalty by storing vital information to increase sales – for example, by personalizing the experience and providing great customer support.

 

The goal is to focus on the essentials: turnover. With many solutions on the market, managers and decision-makers face the challenge of choosing a suitable CRM system for their company.As a smart customer management system goes far beyond purely administrative activities, and the collection of address or contact data it’s important to choose the most suitable CRM for your business. Here below are few essential points to be considered before choosing an optimal CRM system.`

 

Identify your business goals

Identify your business goals and practices with a clearly stated, comprehensive look at what problem you are trying to solve with a CRM. Put the following goals in order of importance to your business to determine which CRM tool will be the most effective:

  • Achieve better customer services + improve customer retention
  • Increase customers conversion by managing communication with prospective leads
  • Offer higher productivity and efficiency by connecting sales & marketing departments
  • Centralizes database- Increase sales & profitability`

 

CRM compatibility check

When choosing a suitable customer management system, it is crucial to inquire about the respective compatibilities of the required software. It is crucial to ensure that your selected CRM system is compatible with other applications and your existing operating system.Ask the provider which processes, functions, properties and versions of the software they offer, how they run together with other system components and under what conditions. Also ensure that your existing contact data should also be easy to integrate into your new CRM software. Pay attention to problem-free import and export options.

 

CRM implementation

Cloud based CRM software has gained so much popularity over last years that when thinking about CRM implementation, only cloud version comes into mind at first. But question of the implementation of your future CRM system is decisive for further steps.

If we compare both options, a cloud-based (aka on demand) online version offers you the advantage that you do not need a server or technical expertise. You simply log into the system via your web browser and all information is available for you on the provider’s server.

 

With an on-premise variant, you have a local solution at your disposal, where you have the software yourself, which you can access on-site via your server. With this version, you need to purchase a license to use the software. And the fact that your data is located in-house, you manage your data independently with your IT specialists and have the option of further developing the system according to your individual requirements.

 

If your business requires a unique individual CRM system, you may opt for a specially tailored software to match our business needs. Therefore it makes sense to opt for a varsity of functions, from the start, in a dynamic an scalable software that will allow you to remain flexible and independent. Plus the CRM system will be easily expandable with the growth of your business.

Smart analytics: How sales and marketing can drive growth?

 

Digital technologies, particularly Social, Cloud, Mobile, and Big Data, are transforming the industry and the way companies used to operate. These technologies are creating new business opportunities by launching new services and/or establishing new businesses by optimizing operations, reducing costs, improving services, and/or launching new services along with companies.

 

Smart analytics, the most hyped term of the past couple of years, is still a catchall term. The ever-increasing amount of data generates enormous challenges, but also generates significant business opportunities for sales and marketing professionals of all sizes of enterprises. You must have noticed that in today’s ever-changing world, unstructured data such as digital photos, videos, and other connected social media activities are growing much faster than structured data so we can say that data processing is no longer the sole domain of relational databases.

 

Therefore, an entirely new industry has formed around technologies in order to store, sort, organize, and analyze the large volume of data and give business insights. Companies such as Xorlogics helps business to provide them with high-quality software, manage and transform their data, thanks to their deep expertise and leading-edge technologies that they have established in the areas of technology and development.

 

Ok so enough with the history and technology lessons, let’s talk about what does #BigData & #smartanalytics has to offer and how they can change the field of sales and marketing. Well, in my humble opinion, in terms of needs addressed and core functionality, Big Data can be seen as an evolution of business analytics and can be used in customer relationships better than ever before. A survey by Skytree ran in January confirms that sales and marketing gained the most from Machine Learning and advanced analytics projects. Basically now instead of giving ads in magazines and newspapers, or billboards and reaching out to only a limited local audience, it is time to start thinking outside of the box. Big data and predictive analytics technologies represent the opportunity to turn the tables. In other words, sales and marketing can finally become more about facts, analytics, and math rather than only a magical feeling of rather it’ll work or not.

 

Here’s how I think Sales and Marketing are gaining profits and new business opportunities by the correct input of Big Data and Analytics.

 

Customer segmentation:    

By using correctly the analytic tools, one can segment the market into granular micro-segments and then offer personalized services and increase effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. Data analytical tools let you personalize marketing and campaigns, promotions and discounts, and customized goods and services. One can even get the prediction and advanced analytics of customers buying behavior at a nearly “personal” level

 

Social & mobile media real-time data analysis:     

Gathering and tracking real-time data from the Web allows adapting and evaluating business strategies and marketing champagnes that respond best to web-based consumers’ behavior and choices. Real-time sales data visualization technologies enable sales managers to adjust battlefields tactics based on live data feeds.

 

Product cross-selling:            

The best opportunity of cross-selling by using all the data that can be known about a customer, including the customer’s demographics, purchase history, preferences, real-time locations, and other facts to increase the average basket size.

 

Dynamic pricing:        

Increasing the level of granularity of data on pricing and sales – Pricing optimization leveraging demand-elasticity models based on analysis of historical sales to derive insights – Assessing and informing pricing decisions in near real-time. – Integrating promotions and pricing seamlessly, whether consumers are online, in-store, or browsing a catalog – Leveraging performance-based pricing plans and risk sharing schemes.

 

Location-based marketing and sales:          

The growing adoption of smartphones and other personal location data-enabled mobile devices to target consumers who are close to stores or already in them and let customers “check-in” in their favorite places. By geo-targeting mobile advertising, companies can create a multichannel experience to drive sales, customer satisfaction, and loyalty and create value from the use of personal location data.

 

Customer service:      

By developing product sensor data analysis for after-sales service, big data can be used to predict purchases, analyze customer behavior and better understand the people buying your product.

 

In conclusion, I’ll say that it’s true that large enterprises were the first ones to adopt BigData because their need to explore and gain insight from their enormous data is profound in comparison to a small business, however, if you delay a lot, you will be left alone far behind in this high-tech connected world. So more quickly you adapt changes to the tsunami of data and powerful business insights, the better impact your business can get!

How can your business benefit from automated business processes?

If you want to work efficiently and become competitive these days, you can’t avoid the topic of automation. The automation of processes in companies is now considered one of the key drivers of digital transformation. In leading companies, dealing with digital transformation, business strategy and IT are the top priorities. Dedicated business applications that automate tasks and processes are increasingly gaining importance in the entire process of digital transformation. Thanks to technology, processes that until recently were carried out slowly, manually, and with some failures, have now become automatic. It’s no longer challenging to digitize business processes with the help of today’s software, as they enable the CIO to better align IT with the organization’s business strategy. According to analysts from Gartner, for example, companies that work closely with the IT department can realize the benefits of IT projects 25 percent faster than their competitors.

 

Not only the digitization of business processes is crucial for companies to ensure business continuity, reduce costs, increase profit margins and reduce errors or risks. Regardless of your industry, agility within your corporate structures gives you a decisive competitive advantage. It also fulfills users’ needs by providing around-the-clock availability, intuitive interfaces, real-time fulfillment, personalized treatment and zero errors.  Employee morale and creativity are also improved thanks to unstructured and inefficient processes reduction.

 

How can your business benefit from automated business processes

It makes sense for companies to automate their business processes when they realize that their costs are rising, the quality of service is declining and customers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied because customer service is not responding quickly enough. All these issues motivate companies to critically rethink their own business processes. A functioning workflow and smooth processes are among the most important growth factors of modern companies. Automation allows you to optimally use your time and money and thus fully exploit the potential of your company.

Top listed Threats & Risks to Cloud Services and how to avoid them?

Top listed Threats & Risks to Cloud Services and how to avoid them

Many businesses have already shifted their workloads to the cloud in an effort to increase efficiency and streamline workloads. According to the Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report, roughly 90% of enterprises anticipate cloud usage will expand even further as a result of COVID-19. Even though the cloud has a lot of benefits to offer, it’s very important to highlight all the risks involved. A lack of understanding of cloud vulnerabilities and misconfigurations of cloud security settings can easily lead to cloud data breaches, as the enormous amounts of data, that cloud servers host, make them an attractive target for hacker attacks. Threats to cloud environments are in many ways related to the threats via in-house enterprise networks.  Pierre Gronau, the cloud security expert, reveals twelve risks and expresses specific recommendations to minimize the risk of abuse and externally enforced data loss.

 

Data Breach

A company is responsible for the protection of its data. In the case of a data breach that has become public, preliminary investigations, lawsuits, legal disputes, and the resulting loss of revenue, as well as a sustained loss of reputation, are threatened. Therefore, when choosing the cloud provider, special attention must be paid to physical and digital security controls.

 

Insufficient identity, credential, and access management

Data breaches and other attacks often result from lax authentication, weak passwords, and poor key or certificate management. IT departments have to weigh the benefits and risks in a balancing act: on one hand, there is the efficiency of centralizing identity. On the other hand waits for the danger that such a valuable central directory, the repository, represents a worthwhile target. Businesses should rely on multifactor authentication such as time passwords, phone-based authentication, and SmartCard access protection for greater security.

 

Unsafe interfaces

IT teams use interfaces and APIs to manage and interact with cloud services. This includes services that provide cloud provisioning, management, and monitoring. These APIs and interfaces are typically the most exposed part of a system because they are usually openly accessible over the Internet. The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) recommends security-oriented code reviews and rigorous penetration testing. Useful in this context are API security components such as authentication, access control, and activity monitoring.

 

System vulnerabilities

Organizations share storage, databases, and other resources in the immediate locale area, creating new attack surfaces and the potential for exploitable errors. However, IT teams can ease attacks on such system vulnerabilities with basic IT processes. One of these processes is speedy fixing. Change-control processes that address emergency patches ensure that all corrective actions are properly documented and reviewed by technical teams. The optimal time window for this is four hours.

 

Account takeover

Phishing, fraud, and software exploits are still successful. Cloud services add a new dimension to these threats as attackers enforce damaging activity, manipulate transactions, and change data. To avoid this, companies should monitor all accounts, including service accounts, to trace each transaction back to its human owner. The key is to protect each account’s credentials from theft.

 

Malicious insiders

The insider threat has many faces: a current or former employee, a system administrator, contractor, or business partner. The range of malicious actions ranges from forced data abuse to data theft. We can say that the game publisher Zynga learned a lot via his previous experience. In November 2016, employees copied a large amount of player data from the company’s Google Drive account to a USB stick. Goal: They wanted to join the competition after leaving the company. Systems that depend solely on the security of the cloud service provider are at the greatest risk. Protection provides effective logging as well as monitoring and auditing of administrator activities. To minimize the burden of access, organizations should work with encryption processes and keys, as well as quantitatively minimize access to systems.

 

Advanced persistent threats

The CSA identifies advanced persistent threats (APTs) as parasitic forms of attack. APTs infiltrate systems and then secretly exfiltrate data and intellectual property for extended periods of time. Possible entry points include direct attacks, targeted e-mail fraud, spear phishing, and attacks via USB drivers. To be prepared, IT departments need to keep abreast of the latest attacks. In addition, regularly updated awareness programs ensure that users remain alert and less susceptible to letting a parasite into the web.

 

Data loss

Reports of persistent data loss due to cloud provider errors have become extremely rare. Hackers, however, are still showing off their active side by permanently deleting corporate and data center cloud data to damage the company’s reputation. Here cloud providers recommend the distribution of data and applications, daily backup, and offsite storage. Compliance policies often dictate how long companies need to retain audit records and other documents – the loss of this data can have serious regulatory consequences.

 

Insufficient due diligence

Organizations that use cloud services without fully understanding these and the associated risks must accept commercial, technical, legal, and compliance risks. If development teams are not familiar with cloud technologies, operational and architectural issues can arise. At this point, developers must conduct a comprehensive due diligence process to assess the risks associated with their cloud services. The duty of care in the cloud environment is always and especially valid for cloud migrations, consolidation, and outsourcing.

Abuse and harmful use of cloud services

 

Hackers can use cloud services to support their criminal activities. An example is the use of cloud computing resources to crack an encryption key and launch an attack. Other examples of abusive interns include DDOS attacks, spam messages, and malicious content hosting. Therefore, customers should check in advance if their cloud provider offers a misuse reporting mechanism. Even though customers are not direct prey to malicious activity, abuse can still lead to service availability and data loss issues.

 

DoS attacks

Harassment or blackmail-motivated DoS attacks have been around for years. They have gained in importance thanks to cloud computing and are affecting the availability of cloud services. Systems can slow down to a crawl or fail completely. The Australian Bureau of Statistics was also confronted with such a catastrophic failure in 2016 when the agency tried to complete the first national census online. Despite various system tests and stress tests, the census website crashed and went offline the night of the census. No Australian was able to complete his census form. According to CSA, cloud providers tend to handle DoS attacks better than their customers. Protected is anyone who has a plan to mitigate attacks before they occur. This is the only way for administrators to access essential resources when they need them.

 

Shared Technology Vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities in a shared technology, including infrastructure, platform, and application, pose a significant threat to cloud computing. If a vulnerability occurs at one level, it affects everyone. If an integral component is compromised, it exposes the entire environment to potential injury. To prevent this, the CSA recommends a deep defense strategy which is known as multifactor authentication.

Data Management: Cost of poor data quality

Organizations are collecting and generating more information/data than ever before. This information/data is used in almost all activities of companies and constitutes the basis for decisions on multiple levels. But, simply having a lot of data does not make a business data-driven, because issues related to data quality maintenance are infecting numerous businesses. Companies are witnessing that not only the data is growing rapidly in scale & importance but also in complexity. The topic of data quality and what companies should do to ensure a good level of data is one of the biggest priorities within companies that are always being worked on. Since poor data quality affects, among other things, business processes, it can lead to wrong decisions and make it more difficult to comply with laws and guidelines (compliance).

 

Organizations around the world gather so much data that sometimes it’s impossible for them to differentiate the valuable and outdated or inaccurate data. Studies have also shown that the data stays stuck in different systems in inconsistent formats, which makes it unreliable or impossible to share with other team members. According to Gartner’s research, “the average financial cost of poor data quality on organizations is $9.7 million per year.” In other words, the cost of poor data quality is 15% to 25% of revenue.

MASTER DATA MANAGEMENT

Having quality data means getting the right answer to every question. This requires that data is constantly checked for errors, redundancy, and usability. In addition to avoiding errors and gaps, it is also about making data available to every concerning person in a uniform way and making it as easy to use as possible. Master data management (MDM) helps companies to ensure that their data is accurate, trustworthy, consistent, and shareable across the enterprise and value chain by enabling greater data transparency & empowering you to drive better decisions, experiences, and outcomes that benefit your business and your customers.

 

Basically, master data management creates added value on two levels: on the one hand in the administrative areas, for example through more efficient master data maintenance processes or also in IT projects; on the other hand, through increased transparency in the operational areas and thus improved controllability. The benefit in mastering data processes is reflected, among other things, in the reduced effort involved in searching for data, less internal coordination effort, and the fact that there is no duplication of work when changing data or making initial entries. Furthermore, clean master data forms the basis for scalable automation options and reduces the effort for migrations.

 

Mastering your data challenges also delivers a significant competitive advantage. And as the pace of innovation accelerates, the importance of mastering your data will only be beneficial for your business. The benefits of MDM in the administrative and operational areas as well as for compliance ultimately increase the competitiveness of companies. Last but not least, good data quality ensures the satisfaction of customers, suppliers, and employees.

Preparing for Cloud Migration

six r rule Important Strategies for the Cloud Migration

 

Companies that migrate to the cloud are preparing for a digitization era in which cloud technology not only enables trends such as mobile working but also supports companies in developing new business models and services. The migration of existing software applications to the cloud is motivated by a variety of reasons: lower IT workload, cost savings, greater agility & the need for mobility.

 

According to Gartner, the global Public Cloud Services Market will grow by 23.1% and reach $397.4B by 2022, up from $270 billion in 2020. Nevertheless, 80 percent of the applications are still running on-premises today. With this in mind, many companies are only just beginning their path to the cloud, and cloud migrations will be an essential part of their IT strategy over the next few years.

 

Moving systems to the cloud is a challenge that should not be underestimated for many companies – especially during the business-critical migration phase. Inadequate preparation and a lack of expertise can quickly overload existing IT capacities and lead to steep increases in costs. It’s recommended not to ignore the security risks and unnecessary costs. Among other things, it is about how the company sets expectations correctly and maintains its added value during the transition phase.

 

Preparing for the cloud migration

 

First of all, a competent team should be put together that is responsible for the upcoming migration of the selected data and the IT structures of the cloud. This should consist of experts with complete knowledge of the target cloud services and the applications to be migrated. The team leader should focus on implementing the business requirements, managing potential technical obstacles, and minimizing risks.

 

The team leader assumes the role of an “architect” who first defines the strategy and develops a migration plan with his team in order to supervise the migration. Every cloud and migration strategy should therefore be backed up with profound specialist knowledge.

 

The next step is to perform a complete inventory and classify the applications to be migrated. The following questions should be considered here: Should the standard applications or special legacy apps be migrated? Should the operating system be updated, the application modernized, or should PaaS services such as managed databases be used? It may even be a good idea to shut down some applications entirely and not migrate them at all. After all, a migration plan can only be developed after an in-depth inventory, analysis, and evaluation of each individual application.

 

Visualize key figures and dependencies

 

However, a comprehensive inventory does not only consist of a mere listing of the applications. In addition, IT managers should visualize the IT dependencies and evaluate the applications accordingly. It is important to identify relationships between the building blocks of an application and supporting internal services such as Active Directory and external resources. Supporting services must be set up on the target cloud platforms before the application migration process can begin. Applications with simpler dependencies or those that mainly use external services should be moved first. All applications with more complex dependencies should only follow later, as soon as the corresponding dependencies are available in the target cloud.

 

Last but certainly not least, it is important to determine and record economic and technical key figures (KPIs) during the preparations in order to be able to relate the performance of an application to one’s own expectations. There are basically many meaningful metrics that can be considered for cloud migration. In any case, it makes sense to use metrics that make the problems as well as the success, benefits, and added value of a migration project visible. KPIs for user experience, performance, capacity utilization, and relevant business metrics are recommended. As soon as the KPIs are established, the baseline with which the data comparison should take place must be defined. It should be ensured that sufficient data is collected to be able to take special events such as seasonal fluctuations into account for operational decisions. The collection of data should be automated as far as possible in order to be able to guarantee timely reporting.

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