Attorney Published Article
Mitigating Cloud Service Vendor Dependency in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond
Drew Patty (Baton Rouge) authored “Mitigating Cloud Service Vendor Dependency in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond” in the Alabama Bankers Association October 2020 Board Briefs.
“Even before the current pandemic, businesses large and small were increasingly relying on outsourced software application hosting, also known as “cloud computing,” or “software as a service” (SaaS), to improve efficiency and profitability. Some businesses also outsource computing infrastructure under “Infrastructure as a Service “(IaaS) agreements and outsource software development/deployment/management needs in “Platform as a Service” (PaaS) agreements… Remote work arrangements made necessary by the ensuing lockdowns associated with the pandemic response have substantially heightened businesses’ reliance on the services provided under SaaS agreements. In addition to addressing their own vulnerabilities introduced by remote work and reliance on hosted applications and similar vendor services under SaaS agreements, business lenders and board members must be aware of, and should evaluate, the extent to which their institutions and borrower customers rely on these services, to understand the full scope of operational, compliance and loan default risk presented.“