Delivering Cloud Data Migration with a Conscience

Privitar Chief Product Officer Steven Totman outlines why, as the events of 2020 rapidly accelerate cloud transformations across the globe, enterprises need strong data protection strategies in place to avoid falling short of their privacy and security obligations

Every day, organizations gather vast amounts of information, generated by a population of trillions. Before COVID-19, businesses were already aware of the tremendous value gained by using, analyzing and exchanging data for organizations worldwide. The pandemic has only accelerated existing trends towards cloud transformation.

Almost overnight, work meetings, social interactions, education, exercise classes and shopping shifted to exclusively online. This shift served as a change catalyst for everyone, as businesses adjusted to new market needs. These new market trends and needs have pushed organizations to accelerate their migration to and usage of the cloud.

Cloud migrations reduce costs and IT management requirements while making it easy for companies to scale data-driven services based on demand, rather than paying up front for hardware and software they may not use.

The cloud also provides integrated analytics, data engineering and machine learning (ML) technologies that can dramatically accelerate data-driven insights and innovations. (Of course, you need internal expertise to analyze the data and design new offerings.)

The cloud democratizes access to the raw computing power necessary to perform advanced analytics and deploy machine learning and artificial intelligence projects, which simply is not available to many organizations otherwise.

Steven Totman, Chief Product Officer, Privitar

As Corinium's new Cloud Transformation Trends 2021 report shows, migrating to the cloud provides considerable advantages for organizations seeking to innovate quickly using AI to process and learn from an ever-growing cache of data. That innovation does not, unfortunately, come with a conscience. AI alone cannot ensure that this data is used safely, legally and ethically. In an era of new and evolving privacy regulations, data-driven misinformation campaigns and increased risks for data breaches, organizations must think through their entire data protection strategies, including elements of both privacy and security.

Indeed, the cloud does not solve every problem. It simply levels the computing and availability playing field. When companies begin their migration to the cloud, they gain many advantages, but must be prepared for the challenges of keeping data protected, whether it is secured data at rest or data in use that has been de-identified to ensure privacy.

We see that first-hand at Privitar, as we work with organizations worldwide to help them build and scale their data privacy initiatives, protecting and managing sensitive data, while optimizing its utility for analytic applications.

Steven Totman, Chief Product Officer, Privitar

The opportunities offered by the ability to gather vast amounts of information and perform complex computations are enormous, from detecting and preventing financial crimes to finding new and ground-breaking health treatments. But collecting and processing sensitive personal data also creates significant risks. The same data that can help detect financial crime could, in the wrong hands, be used for social engineering and fraud, while misuse of health data can lead to discrimination and extreme patient distress.

As you’ll see in this report, cloud transformation looks set to be a key business enabler in the years ahead. This year impelled business leaders to learn how essential it is to adapt quickly and innovate to meet changing business requirements. But it is vital that they keep security and privacy in mind as they do so.