Welcome to the second post in our blog series on digital transformation. As mentioned in our series kickoff, digital transformation security can be divided into four key areas: network security, SAP capabilities, SAP GRC (roles and access), and physical security. Let’s dive right into what those categories include, beginning with network security.

If you were to bring up the topic of technological security with a group of colleagues, chances are it’s network security that would first come up in discussion. Intrusion and phishing are a few of the main areas that fall into this category. In the case of intrusion, we’re talking about the detection of network entry without proper authorization. And, unfortunately, we’ve all seen phishing in action–fraudulent messages that seek to obtain personal, valuable information, and designed to look as though they were from a reputable organization. In order to maintain a truly secure system, all access points into your network, such as VPNs, need to be secured. The Vortex team is very aware of these threats and makes network security an integral part of every project, whether that’s including our own security experts in a full staffing scenario or collaborating with your on-staff security team during an SAP setup or upgrade.

This brings us to the second key area of digital security–SAP capabilities, our sweet spot. A core feature of SAP is that it helps to establish baseline security patterns, then detects when there are variations from those base guidelines. SAP is loaded with inherent process-based security capabilities that work toward detecting and preventing fraud and architecture issues:

• Optical Scanning Tools, used in tandem with AI for managing and securing invoicing practices
• Dispute Management tools for detecting irregularities in disputes or payments
• Quality Management and audits for dealing with claims that there is an issue with your product quality
• Accounts Receivable and Incoming Payments tools for analyzing who you owe and who owes you
• Tools for detecting Internal Issues, such as identifying “bad apples” who may be trying to defraud the company
• Tools for detecting Money Routing Irregularities by visualizing patterns where company money is moving

Machines and systems can recognize patterns in a way that humans cannot. Humans have the ingenuity, once these critical pieces of information are identified, to see things from different angles and make sense of situational information based on experience and expertise. It’s the experience of our senior leadership team and vast network of consultants that allows Vortex to recognize capabilities and apply them in unique ways for the benefit of our clients.

Network security and SAP capabilities are 2 of the 4 critical areas comprising your holistic security architecture, and when discussing these, there’s another topic that cannot be excluded from the conversation–understanding security of cloud vs. on-premise. Simply said, the more you go on-premise with your SAP investment, the more SAP performance ability you give up. The powerful SAP cloud platform has stronger capabilities and is a sound, secure choice for your business in the long term.

What questions do you have about network security for SAP? Drop us a line or reach out on social media: LinkedIn and Twitter. Tune in for the next in our series on digital transformation security, where we’ll discuss GRC and physical security, coming soon here on the Vortex Consulting blog.