Ventiv Technology

360º | Aon eSolutions 7 SOME BACKGROUND First, let's take in the big picture. It's a big sky, and there are a lot of cloud options up there. Look inside them, however, and you'll see that every cloud is based on a straightforward concept: providing users with online access to business solutions through shared, external computing resources. The cloud is generally considered to be a close relative of the model known as "software as a service" (SaaS), which sprang up in the 2000s. SaaS evolved from the "application service provider" (ASP) model of the 1990s; ASPs used the Internet to manage and host specialized software from third-party, independent software vendors. By contrast, SaaS providers generally develop, manage and host their own software. Although the SaaS and cloud models are related, many cloud providers have diverged from the SaaS model by seeking greater economies and efficiencies that increase the risks to their clients. Specifically, "commodity" cloud providers seek to outsource to other providers the very infrastructure that their clients had outsourced to them, including platform and application development and management, hosting and data storage. Just as in nature, no two clouds are alike; what's more, there are many cloud-computing types. Most businesses looking to get into the cloud usually choose one of two cloud "models": the community cloud or commodity cloud. Aon eSolutions is the original cloud provider to the risk, insurance and safety market community. We took our clients online in 2001, and RIScloud is not just an evolution in the Aon eSolutions cloud offering: it's nothing short of an evolution in our ability to: » Deliver value and efficiencies to your organization, » Meet your risk and insurance technology-application needs, » Provide unmatched protection to your organization's sensitive risk and insurance data, and » Support the regulatory and compliance requirements specific to our clients. THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY RIScloud is a community cloud, and our foundations in the community model are important. RIScloud was designed and built specifically for—and serves only—the risk, insurance and safety community. Through RIScloud, Aon eSolutions manages the entire technology environment, applying our legacy of expertise in the field of risk and insurance for the community's benefit. We manage and provision the entire cloud environment and do not outsource pieces or parts to commodity cloud providers. With RIScloud, we are unique in the risk, insurance and safety market in our ability to adapt to changing community needs, upgrade our solutions, guarantee performance and deliver unmatched security levels. At the core of RIScloud is our new, state-of-the-art data center that went online this summer. All technology hardware, software and peripherals are owned and operated exclusively by Aon eSolutions I.T. professionals. Aon eSolutions designed and built the new data center from the ground up with the express purpose of providing the risk, insurance and safety community with the cloud solution it needs now and in the future. Our new data center positions us to deploy valuable enhancements, including our move to a new encrypted storage solution for all client data known as "data encryption at rest." Encryption at rest means we encrypt every client record in its entirety—not just certain fields. To the best of our knowledge, no other solutions provider in the risk and insurance market provides this level of encryption at rest security. KNOW THE RISKS. KNOW THE CONTROLS. For any organization looking to move into—or shift its position in—the cloud, it's critically important to understand the risks associated with cloud computing. Those risks are essentially the same ones that organizations encounter when they host applications internally; however, in the cloud, those risks are greater because the organization hands over its data to a partner to manage and store on that organization's behalf. When engaging a partner to manage and store its data, a company becomes dependent on that cloud provider's security and controls and on that provider's employees to properly handle and protect the data. Moreover, organizations need to consider compliance and regulatory issues when evaluating cloud options: The biggest risk here is that an organization could be compliant internally with its processes and procedures but, if a partner (or partners) are not aligned with the organization's specific requirements, that organization could be out of compliance without even knowing it.

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