The transition to the cloud within the housing association sector is unstoppable. Increasingly, associations are adopting a cloud-first approach to manage their data. The same goes for Area, based in Uden, Brabant. However, the organisation still faces challenges around technical issues, security, and preventing cybercrime. CorporatieGids Magazine spoke with Sjak van Drunen, Advisor for Information and Digitalisation, Privacy Officer, and Security Officer at Area.
When asked about Area’s cloud strategy, Sjak begins: “Our strategy is based on two principles: ‘Itris unless’ and ‘Microsoft unless’. In the past, Area followed a best-of-breed strategy, resulting in an IT landscape with five core systems, each performing very well on its own. Recent analysis confirmed this still holds true, as a best-of-suite approach would be too limiting for our organisation. Hence, ‘Itris unless’. As for ‘Microsoft unless’, we’ve seen a shift in the past two years. Area aims to house all its data in the Microsoft cloud.”
Cloud Strategy Challenges
“This strategy provides a clear framework,” Sjak continues. “But we also face challenges—particularly in technology and security. Many traditional ICT vendors are not yet able to provide fully SaaS-based solutions. That conflicts with our policy to migrate everything to the cloud, but right now, there aren’t serious alternatives. From a security standpoint, cloud risks are easier to manage than with on-premises solutions. At the same time, incidents in the cloud can have a greater impact. It’s a constant balancing act.”
Cybercrime
The growing threat of cybercrime will require even more attention in the coming years, Sjak explains. “For Area, that means allocating additional budget and strengthening collaboration with our partners. Another key focus is protecting the data of tenants and home seekers. The risk of data breaches due to cyberattacks is increasing. This forces us to be strict with roles and permissions—people can no longer access everything just for convenience. Access is restricted to only the data needed to perform their job. If a breach does occur, the damage is limited. Legacy in applications also remains a concern, but at some point, you need to break with the old and commit to a new tech stack. It’s a bold move, but it offers huge opportunities to future-proof the organisation.”
A New DMS as an Example of Innovation
A good example of this commitment is the switch to E-Content 365. Sjak says: “As part of our continuous improvement, we recently upgraded our Document Management System from Archive-IT. Although it was based on Microsoft SharePoint, over time it had become more of a custom solution than a generic one. Archive-IT introduced us to E-Content 365, fully built on Microsoft 365 components, enriched with their sector and archiving expertise. An added benefit is that it’s based on the CORA 4.1 standard, ensuring Area aligns with sector-wide guidelines.”
No Major Technical Challenges
The great advantage of choosing a Microsoft 365-based solution, according to Sjak, is the reduction in technical complexity and the ease of integration with existing systems. “Of course, when replacing any system, you need to review your interfaces, but thanks to Microsoft standards, this wasn’t an issue. The biggest technical challenge was migrating 30 years of non-CORA-structured digital archives from a traditional file server to a CORA-compliant structure in the Microsoft cloud. It was time-consuming, but since the data was transferred a month before the go-live date, it went smoothly. Most of the migration was outsourced, leaving us with only 7,500 documents that required manual processing.
Results
“From the outset, we set a few key goals for the new DMS: it had to be intuitive and fast, documents had to be easy to find, security had to be strong, and the platform needed to be GDPR-compliant and future-proof. All of these goals have been met. A user survey confirmed that employees are positive about the new system, considering it an improvement over the old one.” Sjak concludes: “The intensive live training we provided to all staff, along with strong post-implementation support, certainly contributed to this. With the completion of the E-Content 365 project, Area now has all its data in the cloud—a major milestone in our cloud strategy.”
Source: CorporatieGids Magazine