The cloud: a strategic ally for businesses in times of crisis

Organizations that had already migrated all or part of their IT resources to the cloud before the current health crisis were able to adapt quickly to the situation. By maintaining their operations, they gained a real advantage over others. “If applications are accessible through the cloud, if processes have been adapted and access methods are clearly defined, there is no longer any need to go to the office to work,” explains Jacques Ruckert, Chief Solutions & Innovation Officer at Proximus Luxembourg. Faced with COVID-19, most Luxembourg organizations were forced to rapidly adopt remote working on a large scale. “For those that had not yet started their cloud transformation journey, as was the case for many financial institutions, organizing remote work proved particularly challenging.”

Increased flexibility, enhanced security

The crisis has highlighted other benefits of the cloud, including the increased flexibility it provides and the enhanced security associated with it. “The cloud can easily adapt to your needs without requiring you to worry about scaling the infrastructure. During this crisis, the use of video conferencing has increased dramatically, forcing some platforms to adapt in order to handle the volume of data being exchanged,” explains Jacques Ruckert. “Such a rapid increase in demand would not have been absorbed as easily if these solutions had been running on internal company systems.”

In addition, major cloud platforms invest considerable resources in securing their infrastructures. Organizations that still believe the cloud is less secure than a locally managed data center are mistaken. They are probably not fully aware of the threats at play, which have become increasingly difficult to protect against without advanced expertise and significant resources.

Securing connections and monitoring traffic

“For organizations relying on the cloud, one of the key security challenges to consider lies between the user and the application hosted in the cloud,” explains Jacques Ruckert. “To secure exchanges over the Internet, several tools have been brought together under the Zero Trust concept. First, it is essential to guarantee the identity of the person connecting through strong authentication, recognition of the device being used, or even geolocation. These parameters help determine the appropriate access rights.”

It is also recommended to monitor traffic across the company’s network, particularly by relying on a Security Operations Center (SOC). “The objective is to structure systems in a way that secures the most critical information, while improving the monitoring of access and data transfers across the network,” comments Jacques Ruckert. “From our SOC, we can detect abnormal downloads of sensitive data or suspicious behaviors and issue alerts.” Recent technologies, particularly machine learning, make it possible to quickly identify abnormal behaviors across a network.

Hunting down threats

In this context, humans also have valuable strengths alongside machines. “People are still particularly effective at hunting down threats present within a system,” explains the Proximus Luxembourg executive. “An attack can indeed be prepared within a system over several months without anyone noticing. Our consultants regularly conduct threat hunting activities to identify intruders and hidden threats within our customers’ networks.”

The crisis we are experiencing has made organizations aware of the need to rethink the way they approach IT resources. “This situation, which seemed impossible just two months ago, could happen again,” says Jacques Ruckert. “Every organization must therefore take advantage of the opportunities offered by better use of technology, the cloud, and other solutions such as electronic signatures or automated document processing to support remote working. Digitalization will continue to accelerate.”

“One of the key challenges will be to implement the Zero Office concept, in other words, transforming the company so that it can operate independently of any physical workplace.”

Jacques Ruckert, Chief Solutions & Innovation Officer at Proximus Luxembourg

A strategy tailored to each organization

Migrating to the cloud is a transformation project specific to each company and requires the implementation of an appropriate strategy. “One of the challenges will be to implement the Zero Office concept, meaning transforming the company so that it can operate independently of any workplace,” continues Jacques Ruckert. “To achieve this, organizations need to rely on the cloud and define a roadmap that will enable them to evolve. While migrating email solutions to the cloud is relatively straightforward, this is not necessarily the case for all business applications within an organization. Technological considerations and confidentiality requirements must be carefully assessed.”

For many organizations, migration will involve a hybrid approach, combining resources hosted on major cloud platforms with others managed in a private cloud environment. “Our expertise as a PSF Support provider has enabled us to develop governance frameworks and tools to support our customers throughout this transformation,” explains Jacques Ruckert. “It is essential that organizations retain control over their environment, remain independent from any single provider, leverage multiple cloud providers, and define an exit strategy from the very beginning.”