02 Dec Dispelling the misconceptions of cloud access control

One lasting legacy of the covid pandemic was the acceleration in the adoption of cloud-based access control solutions. Karel Stanovnik, International Business Developer at SPICA, challenges the common myths surrounding cloud-based applications.

With on-prem solutions struggling to integrate access control with other critical business solutions, it left cloud solutions leading the way. Businesses that had already modernised their access control to the cloud, saw security managers be able to manage buildings, monitor employees’ activity and grant access while being off-site. In addition, maintenance responsibilities no longer fell to the IT departments but were instead offloaded to the software vendor, where continuous upgrades eliminated the need for extra work and downtime. And of course, cloud-based software allowed them to integrate once and deploy everywhere, ensuring consistency across an organisation while supporting the ability to scale and grow.

We know the cloud can save time, money and human resources. So why are some organisations still wary of fully committing their access control management to the cloud?

Misconception: On-prem systems are more secure than cloud-based solutions

Most physical security deployments still remain on-premise while cybersecurity concerns are one of the top concerns IT departments and cybersecurity teams have.

It’s natural to trust your IT staff more than the cloud service provider specialists. After all, you know them, have worked with them and have witnessed their ability and professionalism. But many other priorities compete for their time and attention, and the cybersecurity of an access control system can tumble to the bottom of that list. By contrast, cloud service providers assign dedicated specialists to data security and privacy issues. It’s their top priority, and they have the expertise and experience to excel. Moreover, your IT staff might miss, or delay in implementing, critical updates and patches, creating periods of network exposure.

With new technologies, cloud adoption actually improves the security posture of a system. From a cybersecurity perspective, cloud providers are good at managing their part of the responsibility and helping their customers to manage theirs. They’ll provide a secure infrastructure, keep it patched, actively monitor and prevent attacks, and implement various security best practices. Part of their role is to comply with cybersecurity standards, as well as invest in new technology to better protect their users.

Misconception: Cloud subscriptions are higher than on-prem costs

Moving from on-prem system to the cloud can actually be very cost-effective. With cloud services, companies pay monthly or yearly license fees and, while seemingly costly, the aggregate fees are often less expensive over time than costs hidden in on-premise systems.

Too many people want to compare cloud versus on-premise costs in a purely single dimension. For on-premise, they mistakenly think that costs stop and start with how much hardware capabilities and software are needed to put a solution into work. And for cloud, they only see recurring monthly costs.

It’s not easy to compare these two directly, but the most important thing is to find the total cost of ownership over five years for both options. It’s worth considering that on-premise there are more hidden costs and potential threats than cloud-based software options.

www.spica.com