Structured and Unstructured Data in the Cloud: A Swiss Perspective on Readiness and Internal Controls

The concept of cloud computing has become one of the hot topics in the world of corporate information systems in recent years. Organisations are always interested in initiatives that allow them to pay less attention to the more mundane areas of information system management, such as maintenance, capacity management and storage management, and free up time and resources to concentrate on more strategic and tactical issues that are commonly perceived as being of higher value. A moment's consideration reveals, however, that the use of cloud computing services, like the use of outsourcing facilities, is not necessarily a panacea. Management will always retain responsibility for the confidentiality, integrity and availability of its applications and data, and being able to develop the confidence that these issues have been addressed. This paper outlines the background to cloud computing and presents the results of a survey of Swiss organisations and their attitudes towards data management and the use of the cloud.