Ever hear the stories of people stuffing their money under their mattress? As strange as it may sound, people actually thought that was the safest place for their money 80 years ago. I must admit, this didn’t sound like a bad idea to me two years ago when the financial world seemed to be on the brink of collapse. We all know, however, that the safest place to store our money is in the bank, not somewhere in our home (under our mattresses).

In the same way that banks changed the way we store money, the advent of Microsoft Office 365 will alter the way we house the business productivity files we work on every day. Between the functionality of Office 365 and the security offered by Microsoft’s data centers, there’s now a compelling reason to move your software into the cloud. Simply put, it’s safe.

Many CIOs tell me their No. 1 concern about moving their business productivity software into the cloud really is the security of their data. It’s a valid concern, and one that should be examined thoroughly. Not all cloud vendors are alike. At Microsoft, we’ve developed a robust, multi-layered approach to security that extends from our worldwide network of data centers all the way to our cloud-based software.  For example, when you store your data in a Microsoft data center, it’s actually housed within two separate data centers located hundreds of miles away from each other. That way, if a catastrophic event occurs in one location, your data remains fully safe and accessible.  By applying enterprise-grade best practices such as these, we’re able to guarantee our customers 99.9 percent scheduled uptime.

We’ve always taken security seriously at Microsoft, and the cloud is no different. It’s critical that it be a safe place.  When I talk to CIOs about our state-of-the-art cloud security practices, their fears typically evaporate and transform into excitement. It’s an “aha!” moment when they realize that the security Microsoft provides goes far beyond what they could afford within their own data centers. Why am I stuffing my software “under my mattress,” they think, when it’s actually safer to store it in the Microsoft cloud?

To learn more about our security features and some of the factors you should consider in moving to the cloud, please check out this video about Security in the Cloud.