Public Cloud, Security and GDPR Create New Opportunities for Channel Partners
By Gena Phelps | Tintri
As waves of IT compliance measures and data threats roll across the U.S., IT leaders are finding more reasons to invest in data protection and exit the public cloud. Their lack of trust in the cloud builds with each new cyber attack that establishes ransomware as the new normal. And outside the U.S., there’s the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
GDPR was introduced last year to strengthen data protection measures for any company that does business in the EU. The regulation, which goes into effect next May, carries stiff penalties of up to 4 percent of a company’s global revenues for non-compliance. The new regulation is so compelling that Gartner predicts it will drive 65 percent of data loss prevention buying decisions through 2018. It’s reasonable to expect that some of this fervor will also impact U.S.-based companies and buying decisions.
Second Thoughts on Public Cloud
Considering the potential for excessive penalties and the costs from cyber attacks, which Kaspersky Lab estimates can cost up to $861,000 per incident on the enterprise level, the cloud can be a scary place. According to a recent report by IDC, more than 82 percent of businesses last year pulled workloads or applications out of the public cloud.
For many IT leaders, while public clouds might be suitable for some workloads, an on-premises platform is the only viable option for organizations that deal with highly regulated data to ensure they comply with all the regulations. As one door shuts on the public cloud market, another is opening for organizations that can help fill the void.
Looking to the Channel for Enterprise Clouds
Organizations that return more workloads back to their own four walls want to replicate the level of agility and scale they enjoyed in the public cloud. In a bid to marry the benefits of public cloud with the control, security and support capabilities of on-premises infrastructure, a number of organizations are deploying enterprise clouds with the help of resellers and solution providers.
An enterprise cloud offers the best of both worlds of scale and security. However, this combination is not something every organization can accomplish alone. They need the support and guidance of channel partners or solution providers. Resellers will be called upon to educate and collaborate with customers on the steps they need to take to safeguard their data and ensure it is compliant.
Channel partners can bridge the gap
At a broader level, channel partners play an important role with the skills and expertise they developed building out private clouds and deploying security measures through regulations like SOX, FISMA and PCI. Their experience will make it easier to develop enterprise clouds that provide the agility and flexibility organizations need.
Unlike public cloud providers, channel partners understand their customers’ infrastructures in a way that allows them to recommend technologies that support customer objectives. Their solutions can emphasize architectures built as web services to accommodate the needs of both cloud native and enterprise applications. And as footprints grow, similar value will be placed on technologies that can be managed simply at scale while maintaining the robust security and control needed to meet their compliance requirements.
As the delivery platform for IT continues to evolve, cloud benefits are changing customer expectations at the same time that data regulations are becoming more stringent. This confluence of factors represents an opportunity for the channel to once again help customers survive and thrive in an ever-changing world.
