Hybrid solutions still king as cloud concerns persist, says Kaseya

Concerns about security in the cloud in Latin America persist, with many public and private sector entities migrating slowly to the cloud and adopting hybrid solutions, Rodrigo de Burgos, Latin America regional manager for US web-based automated IT systems management software provider Kaseya, told BNamericas. According to de Burgos, the level of coverage and quality of broadband infrastructure in Latin America has been an important factor that has slowed the adoption of cloud, something that is now changing. But there is also a cultural issue where governments in particular have been reluctant to trust the cloud with sensitive information. "People still fear the cloud, they fear their data will not be secure. It's a cultural obstacle that is gradually falling away but is still present," de Burgos said. Taking these regional characteristics into account, Kaseya has blended its on-premise and software as a service SaaS solutions and seen significant adoption of hybrid solutions, which, according to de Burgos "opened a lot of doors in Latin America." "We've done very well with the hybrid scheme. At an administrative model you have an SaaS solution. You pay for a subscription, a fee, but it is on premise SaaS," de Burgos said. "The software can be installed on the client's infrastructure with webhosting. The client decides. It is not Kaseya infrastructure. That has opened a lot of doors because at a technical level the client has complete control of the security of their infrastructure but at a commercial level they still enjoy all the benefits of an SaaS solution," he added. According to de Burgos, caution regarding the cloud is a "common denominator" throughout all of Latin America though more so in some countries than others. On one hand Chile's government has announced it will start using cloud services in May while still being conscious of data sovereignty and privacy. In Mexico the government still does not use any cloud solutions and continues to buy everything on-premise, according to de Burgos. Kaseya's solutions enable clients to proactively manage and control IT assets remotely from one integrated web-based platform. The solutions are adopted in a wide variety of industries including banking, consumer packaged goods, education, financial services, government, healthcare, military, real estate, retail and transportation.