Cloud in logistics IT: secure and flexible

When picking a new IT solution, you start with the project goals. These goals usually have something to do with cost, flexibility and security. Just a few years ago, security was considered a weakness of cloud solutions. Today, it is deemed a strength. Cloud and data centre operators are in the best position to implement state-of-the-art security solutions. Their systems are essentially always available, as evidenced by low annual downtimes. They are also protected from unwanted intrusions by the very best technical and organisational measures. Security is a key part of this business model. Achieving an equivalent level of security on both dimensions in on-premise systems poses a challenge that cannot be tackled at a similar cost.

If cloud solutions have one weak point, it is data sovereignty. Companies that outsource data no longer have physical access to it. This is now perfectly acceptable because European data protection legislation has forced cloud providers – even large international ones – to store data in Europe without granting third parties such as foreign states access to it. This is an important growth driver. After all, companies want their operations to be quick, nimble, scalable, cost-effective and preferably mobile. All things that present-day cloud solutions can provide effortlessly. For example, companies with multiple locations have relocated their entire server structures to a central data centre. Employees can collaborate across locations without the same difficulties they encountered in the past. They simply connect to the systems via HTTPS or VPN. When COVID hit, office workers at many companies were thus able to switch to working from home from one day to the next without much preparation. Financial analysts are also pleased about that companies are using cloud solutions instead of in-house systems. Cloud solutions are merely rented and so do not have to be depreciated over several years or replaced regularly.

Different approaches to capitalising on the benefits of off-premise central IT infrastructure have emerged since the early days of cloud computing. They are rental models, similar in some respects to trends seen in the real estate market:

• Housing: the option of managing your own systems in an external data centre and only using the shared internet infrastructure (like a rental flat in a residential complex with a lift and janitorial service).
• Hosting: the service provider operates and maintains the systems and also procures the hardware infrastructure (a furnished rental flat).
• Software as a service (SaaS): individual applications provided without a system environment; the best-known example is Microsoft Office 365 (a hotel room).
• Microservices/function as a service (FaaS): individual applications used selectively for a very specific task (a 10-day-a-month desk space in a co-working area
• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): a functional system environment (a convention hotel)
• Platform as a service (PaaS): the system environment (IaaS) including middleware to connect services (a convention hotel with individual offices)

In all cloud scenarios other than pure housing, cloud service providers perform important tasks so that the company no longer has to do them itself: system provisioning, availability and security, updates and upgrades, licence management and database selection. They include complex requirements such as backups and recovery scenarios, emergency power supplies, redundant internet connectivity, fire protection, and protection from natural hazards through geo-redundancy (i.e., storing data in different locations). Customers rightly expect a fully functioning solution. Their only job is to establish a functioning internet connection from their workplace to the data centre. In addition to their normal internet service, they should have at least one backup option, such as mobile communications, in case of disruptions.