As cyberthreats grow and regulatory stakes rise, iOCO offers a flexible, cost-effective solution to keep your business’s data secure and compliant
Organisations around the world — particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) — are increasingly adopting the IT as a Service (ITaaS) model to address IT challenges such as a lack of skills and the high cost of implementing and managing IT infrastructure in-house.
In SA, however, leading technology solutions provider iOCO finds one of the biggest drivers to ITaaS adoption is business risk. For local organisations, mitigating cyber risk and remaining compliant with legislation like the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) are top priorities — superseding even the drive to boost efficiencies or grow the business.
These organisations may have been hacked, they may have had a ransomware attack, or they may have just become aware that cybersecurity is critical and they don’t know what to do about it.
In the face of significant cybersecurity skills shortages, they need somebody to partner with them to improve their cyber resilience. They also have serious concerns about compliance with Popia, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, and other legislation. They need expert support to help them protect sensitive information, not only because of the severe penalties associated with not protecting that data, but also because of the reputational damage that could occur if it becomes known that your data was leaked.
Budget, too, remains a driver for ITaaS. Smaller companies don’t have the resources to buy or license the appropriate kit, because it’s very expensive. If they procure it on a subscription basis as part of an ITaaS offering, they gain access to world-class solutions, ready-built architecture, integration, monitoring, 24/7 support and escalations without the need for scarce capex funds. They can then rely on an entire ecosystem that already works — it’s not something that they need to start building for themselves from scratch.
Organisations want a partner that can take away the complexity and risk and assist them to fast-track the benefits.
Choosing the right ITaaS partner
It should be noted that not all ITaaS or Everything as a Service (XaaS) providers are equal. There are potential risks in selecting a partner based only on price, and not on expertise and track record. For example, they may not deliver the uptime they promised, or their failover component does not work — which means they can’t restore the data in the event of a crisis. There is also a risk of inadequate security — if you skip just one layer, it opens a door for bad actors to access your environment.
Organisations looking for an ITaaS provider they can trust need to look at their track record, testimonials, service level agreements (SLAs) and certifications.
iOCO ITaaS offers cutting-edge ICT at a reduced cost, and with reduced risk. Its services include network as a service, XaaS, end-to-end managed IT, and integrated security.
With a solid 15-year track record of ITaaS in SA, the technology provider has over 1,100 highly skilled technical professionals with certified qualifications to manage every aspect of the IT environment.
iOCO’s certifications offer clients the confidence that they will meet their SLAs — for example, the ISO 27001 security standard, which is audited by external companies and renewed annually. iOCO is an audited service backed by international auditing standards such as ISAE3402, ISO 9001 and PCI-DSS.
A significant differentiator is iOCO’s flexibility. Where many ITaaS providers lock clients into lengthy and inflexible contracts, iOCO is more flexible. A problem for SMEs is that their businesses flex, grow and contract — especially when they are young businesses or when the economy forces them to change. They may need to scale up in terms of how many users there are, or how many branches there are. They might also need to contract. So, iOCO’s subscription model can scale up or down with your business’s growth or contraction, which reduces risk and is a much more attractive proposition.
Another differentiator is iOCO’s assurance that it will meet its SLAs — if it doesn’t, clients can give the company three months’ notice, and walk away. Many other service providers lock clients into long-term agreements, which the client sees — and rightly so — as a business risk.
iOCO makes it easy for clients to come on board, but also to off-board if they need to. Despite this flexibility, none of the technology provider’s clients have ever cancelled due to it not living up to expectations.
Written by: Johan Bosch – Cluster Executive for ITaaS at iOCO.
Originally featured here
