By now everyone has heard the modern fables of the rise and fall of Blockbuster video, or the plight of the traditional taxi or hotel faced with disruptive competition with Uber and Air Bnb changing the rules of business with technology.
As a result, businesses have been urged to keep an eye out for ongoing advances in technology, in order to ensure they are well-equipped for the future.
According to Rupert Taylor-Price, founder and chief executive of Vault Systems, competition in the technology sector will continue to grow as it becomes an increasingly vital aspect of how Australians do business.
However, he told SecurityBriefAU that this means more options than ever before are becoming available to businesses in all industries.
As a result, he believes they need to have a good idea of the prevailing trends in the sector in order to make the right investment decisions.
“With more options, organisations will need to use foresight to stay ahead of the technology curve that is rolled out to ensure systems will be beneficial for the long term,” he commented.
“As the Australian government continues to increase the amount of data that will become digitised by embracing digital transformation, it will be crucial to invest not only in digital storage like cloud services, but the appropriate safety and security of all cloud technology.”
Mr Taylor-Price pointed out that Australia is “quickly embracing” cloud technology across many different industries, including education and manufacturing.
This, he said, is bringing many benefits to businesses, such as removing the need to store data on a physical device.
Employers can therefore be confident that sensitive data will not be accidentally destroyed, physically stolen or misplaced by a member of staff.
Furthermore, he said cloud services require users to securely log in to access information, while sensitive data can be encrypted, thereby restricting access only to authorised personnel.
Nevertheless, he insisted that businesses that are adopting cloud-based systems need to be mindful of the threats they can open up and how they can fit in with their digital transformation efforts.
“Just as a farmer looks to the clouds for the rains which will either bring vibrant life to his crop or for which the lack thereof will cause his crop to wither and die, so too must business observe and understand the digital cloud, to be able to recognise and act on the signs of rain, storms, or drought ahead,” Mr Taylor-Price observed.
He went on to warn that security threats and cyber attacks will continue to be a global issue in the coming months and years, with Australia unlikely to be spared.
In addition, he noted that the emergence of the Internet of Things, with devices connected via a network, is creating a new way for criminals to illicitly access data.
However, Mr Taylor-Price stressed that many cloud service providers are extremely security-conscious, with many working to achieve the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) certification.
He stated that if a company meets the ASD “PROTECTED” certification, they can store classified government data, before adding that cloud providers who meet this requirement are local Australia firms that “store all their data onshore to ensure data sovereignty”.
