Part 7: Passing Through Security
If you’re stepping into the world of outsourcing your data security and compliance needs to be watertight and this is where freelancers or smaller, less experienced teams can become unstuck as they don’t have sufficiently mature security systems to protect your data. With the rise of global data and ease of access, organisations have had to up the ante on security.
Rewind twenty years and this area was a complementary activity and something that was “nice to do”. However, this is no longer an option and you need a full cyber security and data protection strategy when looking to outsource any part of your business.
Cybersecurity is described as the combination of three principles: confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA). If one of these core components fails or is wrongly configured, the resulting vulnerability could be a breach of information, a leak or wrongful deletion. All this is a result of poor policy, poor risk assessment and management, or immature security practices; which unfortunately can go hand in hand with some of the newer and less mature outsourcing markets.
With so many security checkpoints to consider when engaging a new offshoring partner, it’s vital the quality of your due diligence process to be higher than ever. It’s important you look for controls, external validation and measures to ensure a possible partner conforms to what you need and that there is a clear management process and control objectives to establish a baseline for a minimum state of security.
Navigating the data and cyber security waters isn’t easy and this is one of the fundamental reasons India is seen by many as the outsourcing capital of the world. Their processes and procedures are top notch.
Be open minded if you go down this route. The fear of the unknown can be off putting to many execs and companies but this means they will never appreciate the benefits outsourcing can deliver to the business. We are huge fans of offshore development and have seen first-hand the transformational effects it can have on businesses.
“It is only by being bold that you get anywhere. If you are a risk-taker, then the art is to protect the downside.” – Richard Branson
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