Despite the growing examples of organizations gaining tangible and measurable business benefits from Cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions which THINKstrategies profiled in its recent report entitled, “Measuring the Business Benefits of Today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Solutions”, many corporate decision-makers remain apprehensive about adopting these Cloud-based services because of data privacy and security concerns.

Companies outside the U.S. are particularly concerned about using services delivered by U.S.-based providers because of the ominous language contained in the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, commonly referred to as the U.S.A. Patriot Act.

This regulation appears to permit U.S. law enforcement agencies to unilaterally access private customer records stored on corporate servers worldwide if they are suspected of holding data which could pertain to terrorist threats or other criminal activity. These fears have made organizations especially hesitant to consider SaaS-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and services offered by U.S.-based SaaS vendors.

THINKstrategies believes these risks have been overly exaggerated and raise unfair questions about doing business with U.S.-based companies. Ironically, we believe companies who avoid contracting with leading U.S. SaaS providers may be at greater risk of data privacy breaches by continuing to rely on traditional, on-premise software applications and locally hosted servers.

We have published a whitepaper which examines the myths and realities of SaaS/Cloud Computing, the U.S.A. Patriot Act, and data privacy, with a focus on the CRM arena.

Click here to download a copy of this whitepaper. I hope you find it useful and worthwhile.

cloud computing CRM customer relationship management SaaS Software-as-a-Service U.S.A. Patriot Act