Is there a bigger challenge than protecting your company from cyberthreats and keeping up with regulatory changes? To gain real-world perspective, DocuWare surveyed more than 300 managers and executives responsible for data security and compliance to find out what their companies are really doing to minimize risk. Where do you stand?
What are companies are doing right now?
When respondents were asked what they’re doing today to ensure they meet compliance and security standards, 74.8% said they are investing in new technology.
That means replacing manual paper processes with digital workflows and exploring cloud-based solutions. Electronic processes adapt easily to changing regulations or new laws. And centrally enforcing company-wide policies is much more efficient than implementing them department by department.
According to survey respondents, educating employees is another direct route to improving compliance, and 72% of them are redoubling their training efforts. If employees aren’t aware of what they should and shouldn’t do, they may, in good faith, make decisions that threaten security. Educational strategies include offering online classes and creating monthly quizzes. (We’ve done this at DocuWare so our employees have fun while staying up to date.)
What security issues has your company experienced over the last 2 years?
Whether you’re talking with peers or reading about corporate giants, frightening examples of security measures gone wrong are everywhere. Our survey confirms that these weak spots are just as prevalent as they seem. 70% of respondents experienced the negative effects of security glitches in the last two years. The most common issues involve malware and vulnerability in third-party applications.
Hackers were responsible for just 6.8% of data exposure and loss. Missing paper files came in at a close second causing 6.1% of security issues reported. Getting rid of paper processes is a quick win with clear benefits.
What privacy regulation has affected your business the most over the last 2 years?
An alphabet soup of regulations affects our surveyed companies. Over the past two years, 36% of respondents have been impacted by lack of enforcement of HIPAA regulations and 12.6% by the failure to meet GDPR requirements. Other companies report grappling with the Shield Act, COPPA and industry-specific regulations.
Digitization ensures data integrity and that information is complete, accurate and stored with administrative and technical safeguards so users can’t alter, damage or delete documents.
Manually enforcing retention schedules is another major headache. With digital document management, documents at the end of their lifecycle are purged automatically according to criteria your company defines.
Looking forward, what are the top concerns related to staying compliant?
For surveyed business leaders, security strategies are works-in-progress. There is no obvious, easy answer here. 13.6% want to strengthen their efforts to prevent data breaches and information security while 12.9% would like to eliminate opportunities for employee negligence. 10.7% are keeping a close eye on new laws and changing regulations.
While internal security is always critical, so is safeguarding customer and membership data. Concern about hackers trying to access this information motivates many security initiatives. However, managers want simplicity. What they don’t want are cumbersome processes that interfere with their relationships with customers, business partners and vendors.
Uncompromising security made easy
As you can see, there’s always work to be done around compliance and security. Cloud-based solutions provide state-of-the-art security and peace of mind against protocol downgrade attacks, viruses, malware, and cookie hijacking – in addition to on- and off-site redundancy.
Known for security that exceeds industry standards, DocuWare document management and workflow automation software is built to protect your company from risk. The solution is audited on a regular basis and certified by several independent third-party institutions. With Microsoft Azure as its foundation, DocuWare Cloud's architecture ensures a high-level of security 24/7.
Main image: Photo by Jon Moore on Unsplash
