Today, more companies than ever before are moving into an era of remote working, prompted by the sudden demand to support more employees who can’t visit the office. While some smaller brands have been able to make the shift with relative ease, other companies are still struggling to plan that route to the cloud.
Jan-Peter Koopmann, the CTO of NFON AG, recently answered a few key questions for businesses that need help making the transition into the cloud.
Is VoIP More Reliable and Safer?
Compared to copper wire communication solutions, cloud telephony is often seen as much more secure and reliable. According to Jan-Peter, this is even true when aspects like redundant network connections are considered.
While there are weak points in reliability for the cloud, they don’t outweigh the benefits. The stability of the internet connection, the quality of a provider’s offer, and the local internet network are all commonly mentioned issues. However, in the home environment, most employees don’t need to worry about these things. As long as your team has access to solutions from the right provider, they’ll be able to tap into things like disaster recovery, redundancy, and protection without having to stay in the office.
To ensure that the VoIP or cloud environment is safe and reliable, Koopmann believes that businesses just need to look at the transparency of the cloud provider. “What information does he provide aside from a promise of availability?”. NFON AG also recommends being cautious if a provider doesn’t provide any information on things like maintenance windows. No company can provide genuine 100% availability.
Is Shifting into the Cloud a Risk?
Some people making the move into the cloud are concerned about the kind of risk that they’re bringing into their business. The path to the cloud is becoming increasingly secure and reliable. According to Koopmann, the bigger question today isn’t “how many risks does cloud technology pose to my business”, but rather what are the risks of not moving to the cloud?
As technical infrastructure and solutions continue to change at a rapid pace, failing to upgrade to the latest technology and solutions with the best resiliency could be a risk in itself. According to NFON AG, every company, no matter their size or industry, should ask themselves how much time and money they want to invest into security and how they can achieve their security goals.
Koopman also points out that the more intensively a business leader things about the provider that they work with for cloud telephony and their security requirements during the selection process, the less they’ll have to worry about.
From the beginning, NFON has always seen security as a core element in the development of a reliable platform, and they have invested accordingly into the security landscape. Obviously, this is an ongoing process as new security risks and strategies are updated.
“A good cloud provider always takes steps to identify security problems among its customers”
By committing to a strategy of constant growth and improvement, cloud providers can take extra steps to avoid problems like fraud and criminal activity.
How Much is the Provider Responsible for Security?
A common question for many business owners, is how often should security be addressed by the company, and when should the provider be responsible? Cloud technology and the applications that they have for the communication landscape are becoming more popular. However, it’s often difficult to define where responsibilities lie.
In the past, Koopmann notes that it used to be that everything that took place in the company’s network or home worker would be the responsible for the user. This is still true to some extent. However, the provider should be there to help the user to protect themselves as much as possible. For instance, if a user deactivates the password protection for their IP phone, the provider should point this out to the user and make sure that they have the right security standards in place.
NFON believes that the responsibility for security is a blurred line in the cloud age. It’s about how much a provider is willing to dedicate themselves to helping to improve security for everyone.
According to NFON, cloud and home-based workers don’t need to be concerned in this current environment. If workers adhere to the company guidelines in place for security and teams use the right technology, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be safe.
Additionally, companies should always feel comfortable to ask their providers for tips and advice when they need it. For more information, visit NFON today.
