What are the security risks associated with SaaS CRM?
Denis Pombriant Founder and Managing Principal, Beagle Research Group, LLC A: This is a great question on several levels. Security issues with SaaS were largely settled for many vendors a few years ago, but the issue of security — and a formal approach to managing it — is causing some old issues to resurface. The formality is being driven by new technologies that live under the umbrella of governance, risk and compliance (GRC). There are industry standards in place for data centers but, in my opinion, that’s not enough because vendors aren’t required to use them. A large and successful SaaS vendor may have all of the security bells and whistles, but a small vendor that is just starting out may not. The problem is that on the Internet both vendors can look big, prosperous and secure. Buyer beware! I think physical security is pretty well managed for most vendors, and procedures within any organization can help prevent hacking, phishing and other attacks. However, the evidence suggests
