Free climbing in the cloud? Better not

One thing is certain: the use of cloud solutions makes life easier in perspective. They are easy to introduce, easy to use and scalable. Whether from the administrator's or the user's point of view, the cloud is the technology of the moment and a major driver of digitization.

But as smart as modern cloud applications are, they generate and process important corporate data that must be reliably and securely archived in any case. Although the data generated in the applications is usually stored by the cloud providers, from a purely legal point of view the responsibility for long-term archiving lies with the company.

(K)a tightrope act without security

Companies should therefore prefer not to climb the route towards the clouds without first securing themselves. A backup system in this case means implementing a cloud-enabled archiving solution - because solid archiving is the data insurance of any company.

If traditional insurance companies pay for the consequences and costs in the event of damage, the protective mechanism of an archiving solution takes effect earlier and more broadly: It ensures that damage due to data loss, audit violations or other DSGVO violations does not occur in the first place. 

This is of central importance both from a security point of view and from a legal perspective. After all, companies must ensure that their data is doubly secured. Even if they are automatically stored in the cloud, those responsible should introduce a backbone to play it safe.

Modern archiving solutions offer attractive options here that are neither expensive nor complex. Especially when it comes to intelligent archiving concepts. They ensure lean archiving that is oriented to the leading ERP system and integrated into the corporate environment.

Backbone for SAP data

SAP, for example, has a function that allows data that is no longer needed in SAP in online access to be removed from the SAP database via a mass data export. Anyone taking this step must ensure that this data remains analyzable after archiving. Currently, this data is exported via SAP ArchiveLink and then archived. The technology of the future, however, is Content Management Inter-operability Services (CMIS).

CMIS is also the basis for general archiving of cloud data, famous example: S/4 Hana. The archiving of today must therefore be able to speak several languages and, for example, like Tia from KGS, enable the switch from ArchiveLink to CMIS as just another move without having to open up a new climbing route.

Let's venture an outlook: Optimistically, about 80 percent of companies currently working with SAP will be using S/4 in five years' time. And it can also be assumed in principle that the vast majority of companies will rely on cloud solutions. This automatically makes the CMIS interface the linchpin for documents and thus for archiving.

Those aiming for the right grip now should focus on pure archiving solutions. They are a real alternative to space-consuming, cost-intensive document management systems, which often get in the way of the leading ERP rather than complementing it.

The reason: the gap in the lifecycle of documents and data is usually only in archiving. In the cloud environment, the feeling of security is not determined by the number of different ropes à la puppet theater, but by the strength and flexibility of the one safeguard.