Data worth protecting in the cloud? We show the way

As a health insurance company, Sympany(opens in new tab) processes particularly sensitive data. Due to this data, a cautious and clarified approach is essential. Sympany is at the beginning of its Journey to the Cloud(opens in new tab) and was primarily concerned with clarifying whether workloads can or should be operated on a hyperscaler such as Azure and, secondly, with which technical measures this step should be made possible, including from a security perspective. This is where Swisscom's experience and expertise come into play. In addition to security, complexity and costs were also important points of clarification.

In the four-day Microsoft Azure (Cyber) Security Assessment(opens in new tab) - one of Swisscom's Microsoft Solution Assessments(opens in new tab) - all the possibilities in Azure for securely processing and storing data of the criticality described above were demonstrated. ln the first part, Azure and its opportunities in general were presented. The second part dealt in depth with the topics of compliance and Swiss legislation. Furthermore, the security technology possibilities of Azure were examined in detail - such as Azure Key Vault; Security Centre; Azure AD with Conditional Access(opens in new tab); lntune. Sympany was given an insight into concepts and procedures (Azure Security Compass; Shared Responsability; Hub and Spoke Arch.), which can smooth the path to Azure and thus simplify it. "We now know how we can get into the cloud securely and in compliance with the applicable regulations and how we can stay secure there," says Aleksander Baumann, Head of lT Operations at Sympany.

On the Journey to the Cloud, Sympany now needs to evaluate its existing applications and analyse which applications can be migrated to the cloud, when and with which accompanying security mechanisms. The aim is to develop an understanding of different migration approaches and to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches - particularly in the context of the business impact. Ultimately, the right conclusions and decisions need to be made in order to implement the journey to the cloud securely, sustainably and with business benefits.

Depending on the initial situation and digital maturity level, we analyse numerous areas of Microsoft 365 and Azure with the Microsoft Solution Assessments(opens in new tab). Specifically, we show how the path to the Microsoft Cloud or Azure can be optimised for your company in order to be ready now and in the future. From cloud beginners to cloud optimisers - our Microsoft Solution Assessments cover every cloud need.

Possible next steps from the Swisscom Solution Assessment Portfolio would be:

• Carrying out a starter kit assessment to analyse the use cases to be migrated,
  
• the Azure ROI Assessment for a clear analysis of the costs and benefits of migration to the cloud or
  
• the Azure Infrastructure Assessment to estimate the migration costs.
  

Wählt Sympany nach dem Microsoft Azure (Cyber) Security Assessment eine direkte Migration nach Azure, würde die Definition der Azure Governance und eine Landing Zone in Azure als nächster Schritt anstehen. Auch hier kann Swisscom mit Standardpaketen unterstützen. Ein letzter Schritt bestünde darin, die Applikationen per Lift and Shift nach Azure zu schieben oder vielmehr die Applikationen in einem Application Modernisation(opens in new tab) Ansatz anzugehen, mit welchem sämtliche Möglichkeiten der Public Clouds wahrgenommen werden.