SaaS - Does Life end at the firewall?

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It's a pretty clear thing that one of the significant challenges of the SaaS model is that business applications need to move data around to function properly. Business applications simply need data to operate. Most modern corporations stand up a firewall to protect that data from the bad guys who want to post it on the internet, hack it, "slightly modify" it and other bad things. The purpose of the firewall is to forbid traffic in enforcement of a policy. SaaS really challenges this model because suddenly information needs to move in and out of an enterprise.

If the firewall represents the "last line of control," then everything inside can be considered to some extent to be "under control" (to some degree or another). It stands to reason then, that everything outside of the firewall is "out of control". And therefore, not proper habitation for critical business data.

In a world where "possession is control", I suppose this holds true. But with the advent of SaaS, this world is starting to fade away like the Cold War. I'll bet that other forces besides SaaS are driving the same kind of effect as well: Corporate Collaboration, Globalization, integrated supply chains. Lots of little reasons all banding together.

I have a new theory about this situation. I think we need 2 things to prepare for the future.

Firstly, I think we need a new wave of technological innovation that develops new ways to maintain and ensure security of our data. Innovation beyond Firewalls and VPNs. Companies like Boomi, and Cast Iron are a part of this innovation. But they are not enough. We need lots of ideas like this that create a ground swell of sentiment that data can be safe "wherever" as well as behind a firewall perimeter.

Secondly, we need a lot of education. IT professionals all over the world need to get smarter about the kinds of innovation that are happening and engage to find ways to further the cause, and create evidence that the methods do/don't work. We need a mood shift in IT that says "it is no longer ok to hunker down behind a firewall because there are so many other options out there that meet our needs."

I see the first item in motion. I'm not sure how to drive the second. Perhaps I need to read The Tipping Point and see what Gladwell has to say... I'm sure I'll come back to this question, because I hate questions I can't answer.


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