Privacy and Security: Who to Trust with your Data

Organizations are constantly collecting and storing critical data. Whether you are dealing with sensitive employee information, confidential patient records, or highly valuable trade secrets, it is essential that the appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure your data is protected. This is especially true when selecting a third-party outsourcing partner. Any data collection, exchange and hosting must be protected from privacy and security risks – the question then arises, who can you trust with your data?

In this blog, we will delve into the critical considerations that businesses should keep in mind when selecting a company to host their data.

1. Security

Perhaps the most obvious item to consider is whether your potential partner company has the necessary security measures in place to protect your data from unauthorized access or data breaches. Some items to look for include encryption, firewalls, access control to data / physical records, chain of custody requirements and audit trails, employee hiring and training requirements, among others.

Evaluating these various security measures can be challenging to those without experience doing so. Relying on certifications / audits that evaluate the effectiveness of a service providers’ internal controls can be particularly helpful in this regard.

2. Reliability

When turning to an outsource partner to provide access to your data, it is critical that the hosting company has a track record of high uptime and reliable service. Working with a company that experiences frequent outages or downtime can result in data loss and business disruption. Ensure that any company you are relying on to host your data will guarantee server uptime and has a thorough disaster recovery plan in the event of a force majeure.

3. Scalability

Consider the partner’s ability to handle your data needs both now as well as in the future. Ensure you are selecting a company that can easily accommodate your growing data storage and processing requirements without causing service interruptions or data loss. Implementing a data processing / archiving solution can be a major undertaking – avoid putting yourself in a situation to have to re-engineer the solution in just a few years due to a growing archive size.

4. Customer Support

Engaging a third-party organization to assist with your data collection, hosting and processing needs can be anxiety-provoking given the critical nature data plays in today’s digital age. Having access to a reliable, responsive and knowledgeable customer support team that is committed to resolving any issues that arise quickly and effectively is imperative. Ensure the organization you are choosing to work with will provide the level of customer support necessary to establish a long-term consistent relationship that you can rely upon.

Choosing the Right Partner

It is crucial to be diligent and informed when selecting a third-party outsource provider to assist in managing and hosting your data. Considering factors such as privacy and security certifications / compliance, how reliable and scalable the operations are as well as ensuring you are working with an organization that will allow you to create a long-term partnership are all key considerations.