Today, more and more companies are uploading their ERPs to a cloud system. Forbes reports that 83% of enterprise workloads will be run from a cloud platform by the end of 2020 — and rightly so, as more companies catch wind of the numerous systemic upgrades this offers. Our post on 'The Case for Moving Your On-Premise ERP to the Cloud' enumerates a few: It's cheaper, more secure, and more user-friendly, allowing you to stay at pace with your competition. However, it is also full of unknowns, particularly in the world of cybersecurity. As more and more businesses have begun their move to the cloud, Maryville University reveals that the demand for cybersecurity professionals has doubled since 2013, with information security managers being the most sought-out. This speaks to the heightened importance of protecting enterprise data, now considered to be the new oil. The process of migrating it to the cloud, then, means opening up your valuable data to different threats and security dilemmas. Business owners feel more secure with what’s tried-and-tested When discussing the possibility of ERP migration, businesses often point out how the security systems that they’ve relied on for so long provide them with much-needed assurance. It’s a general rule that you never fix what isn't broken, and having their ERP stored on-site is enough for most business owners who've never had to question the arrangement. Indeed, a CIO report found that 59% of ERP owners are wary of security concerns in the ERP to cloud migration process, as it poses as a huge window for security threats and attacks. What's more, companies worry that uploading your ERP data to the cloud opens up a digital can of worms such as data loss and design overwork. The former apprehension is validated by reports of data loss accounting for 50% of the issues reported during the cloud migration process. Along with this, a lot of business owners find the digital transfer process to be troublesome and time-consuming, due to the requirement of re-engineering the entire network for cloud compatibility. Key cybersecurity concerns in ERP to Cloud transition All this is why despite the massive evidence that the cloud is more secure than on-premise networks, businesses remain apprehensive about the transition and are pressured to expedite the process. Of course, it doesn't help that hackers have been known to use the ERP to cloud migration vulnerabilities as a backdoor to harvest pertinent data and important credentials. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency highlights that there has been an increase in attacks exploiting the diminished security measures of ERP systems, but this also has the effect of further encouraging cloud migration vendors and security managers to constantly update their digital defenses. As a result, multiple studies have proven that there are lower security risks once a business has successfully migrated their ERPs to the cloud. In contrast to on-premise storage, cloud vendors have to constantly comply with various security guidelines and regulations. In addition, vendors maintain an extremely protected physical data center, with state-of-the-art security systems and heavily trained staff at the helm of ERP data encryption and protection. Overall, there are a few risks that make transitioning from on-premise ERP to cloud a scary process for business owners, but not doing so is an even bigger risk. Once this migration process is done, businesses can enjoy better security systems provided by cloud vendors to fend off any security issues that threaten their valuable data. In order to make the entire process seamless, enterprises need to properly adapt their technologies to mitigate any security risks and concerns that are associated with this delicate data transfer process. ~~ Technology piece provided by Guest Blogger Jessie Blanchet (Image credit: Pexels)