No matter what your role within a company is if it involves overseeing any kind of information transfer or management, keeping control of your important and confidential info is paramount.
Businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to find and manage their content and ensure that it’s staying in the correct hands.
With the increase of digital file storing options, finding a solution that allows you to say in the control of your information and keep it secure can prove challenging for even the most experienced information managers.
If you’re losing faith in your digital processes, finding your content split across multiple single-use applications, or simply don’t feel in control, you need to be asking the following questions.
Where are you storing your information?
We’re working in a time where offices are constantly humming with new incoming information, tasks and objectives. When you’re operating within a busy environment and juggling multiple tasks, it’s easy to lose sight of exactly how many storage devices and applications you’re utilising in your everyday work process.
Making the time to do an ‘information stocktake’ can be a great way to identify any gaping holes in your information security and control.
- Make a list of the types of information you store
- Make a list of the different applications, software and devices you use
- Asses the importance of the confidentiality of these files or documents
Believe us, you’ll be surprised at what you find.
More often than not, your most confidential files and documents will be spread across a multitude of single-use applications, putting both security and control at risk.
Can single-use storage applications go wrong?
Absolutely. There’s always a risk when you’re using third-party applications, and this is amplified when they’re unauthorised and your information is spread across multiple digital storage applications.
There have been some catastrophic leaks of confidential information in the past, even for some of the worlds largest and most trusted vendors.
A perfect example of this occurred in July 2015, when a third party found a loophole in Google Drive’s security and successfully extracted user information and passwords from the file database.
Just this year, security researchers found dozens of companies whose sensitive corporate information had been leaked after uploading files to Box (an online file sharing and cloud content management service).
From large trusted brands to small third-party cloud-based systems, there have been countless information leaks.
But never fear – by carefully researching and selecting where you store your data, and avoiding using multiple file destinations, you can feel a little more in control of your data and security.
Who is looking at your information?
This is a question that’s often overlooked due to a lack of time or tools to run an audit. However, it’s an important one to ask from both an internal and external perspective.
Here are some key things to consider.
Internally:
- Who is across your everyday data sharing within your office?
- Who can access your shared documents, both internally and within your client base?
- What is your process when an employee or client leaves – are their rights removed?
- Who has access to each individual single-use sharing system?
Externally:
- Are there any third-parties I am aware of that have access to my companies content?
- Are my files backed up, and can they be accessed outside of my company?
- Am I guaranteed file protection from hackers by my chosen digital file storage software?
If the answer to any of these questions leaves you feeling as if you don’t have full control or there may be gaps, it could be time to review and centralise the systems you’re using.
How can I gain back security & control?
Research has continually shown that creating a dynamic workplace where people are able to work remotely and have access to company documents from home or elsewhere can be beneficial to productivity. For insight into how, take a look at our recent blog, here.
The risk that comes with this is a lack of control over your sensitive files. This is where PIQNIC comes into play.
We’ve worked hard to create a single place to centralise all of your files into one, super platform. Don’t worry about security either – PIQNIC is protected by multiple levels of network security controlling access to the platform, you can be sure that anything confidential you upload is kept within the hands of the right owners.
If you’re interested in seeing how PIQNIC can help you, take a look at our E-Book.
Download it now, it’s free!
