iTech uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Read Time: 4 minutes
In the information age, there is something more important to your company than your revenue. It’s your data; it contains all the information anyone can ever need to sabotage your business. With it, hackers can control your business and take over your online systems, threatening everything you’ve built.
The threat is real — cybercrime cost companies upwards of $600 billion last year.
Yet, protecting your data is a difficult task. All businesses in all industries collect tones of data about their customers, employees, and other companies. There usually comes the point when outsourcing security solutions seem like the best choice, rather than trying to protect it all yourself.
Security outsourcing introduces a whole new set of issues. You have to consider whether you can trust security companies and ensure they’re capable of protecting your data. And, of course, you need to consider the cost of outsourcing security solutions.
As an experienced automation data entry partner that gives high importance to data security and compliance, iTech has come up with five key points that you should consider before choosing your outsourcing partner.
1. Keep Security Companies Accountable
All businesses are after profit, and there are many which will sacrifice their performance to save money. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell the difference between companies that will risk your data for profit and ones that will genuinely protect it. All you can do is keep the company accountable after hiring it.
To do that, you should first ask to see their plans for protecting your data. They should run you through their methods and how they will handle your data. They should discuss their various services with you. The company you go with should also have referrals from other businesses, depending on their security solutions.
You can ask to view these referrals yourself, or you can reach out to the other companies they’ve worked with yourself. Ask their other clients about their performance before deciding whether to go with them.
Establish Clear Expectations
One of the most important first steps to take when hiring a security company is communicating what you expect out of them. Identify the most crucial parts of your data which the company should focus on. Also, establish what will happen should you become the victim of a cyber attack after hiring them.
If you lose your data after outsourcing its security, you’ll have someone to hold accountable. The damage from an attack will still hurt, but you can mitigate it since you took steps to protect it.
2. Outsourcing Security Is A Question Of Trust
Data security companies sometimes like to think they’re immune from hackers. Just because they have some of the latest and greatest security technology, these companies may believe their invulnerable. Yet, they’re frequently the target of intrusion attempts.
Hackers understand that security companies handle databases of sensitive information for a deluge of different companies. Hackers know that if they can break into a security company’s systems, they can access many companies’ sensitive information at once.
That makes security companies a more vulnerable target than they would have you believe. You should first try to understand if the company you’re considering hiring is aware of their security situation.
Ask Around And Verify The Company
Companies will always put on a front to attract clients — it’s a fundamental marketing tactic to make yourself seem like the best. Yet, it’s also easy to break through the illusion and get to the truth of whether you can trust a security company. To do that, you need to ask around.
You can start by reaching out to previous clients the company may have had and ask them why they may have left the company. You can also try to talk to other companies in your industry about their security solutions. Try to see if the outsourcing company’s methods match your industry’s standards before hiring them.
3. Separate IT And Security Solutions
It’s easy to confuse your IT team with your data security team. They both handle massive amounts of sensitive information, like passwords or client information. They use and understand technology on deeper levels than your other teams. Yet, they do so for different purposes.
Your IT team manages your information systems to ensure all your other teams can use them to get work done. They maintain and improve systems as needed, and equip people with the tools they need to work. Your data security team protects those systems and ensures nothing compromises them.
Merging the two will harm your tech teams’ over performance and confuse their duties. Adding security protocols can make it harder to use technology, which can mean your tech system will get more vulnerable over time.
4. Keep Your In-House Team
Outsourcing your security solutions doesn’t mean you should ditch your in-house team. If you get rid of the people that worked directly on your information systems, you lose valuable in-house knowledge. You also lose the ability to respond to crises quickly.
Instead, your in-house team should work with your outsourced team to ensure they deliver the best results.
Shrink It And Split Security Duties
Keeping your security team doesn’t mean you can’t save costs by offloading your data security to someone else. Instead, you can shrink it to create an in-house security consulting team. This new team would closely work with your outsourced company to ensure the company is protected, without costing as much as a full-fledged team.
5. Review Update And Upgrade Roadmaps
One of the fringe benefits of going with outsourced security is that they frequently include routine upgrades. Your technology will usually only ever improve, as new versions release with better security features. That means your company may indirectly benefit from better tools from outsourcing security solutions.
Ask to review their upgrade and update roadmaps to tell whether you may see upgrades down the line. Also, make sure to ask how they would install updates on your systems, so you can ensure your office continues working even as they install.
Secure Your Company, Or Else
Data security is one of the most important investments any company can make. With it, you’re committing to stand up to hackers. You’re also investing in your future, as cybercrime continues to rise.
The internet is just a digital version of the wild west, right now. Criminals roam digital wilds, waiting to ambush you. Only instead of seeking money, hackers are stealing information they can use to harm companies.
By outsourcing your machine learning services or data entry services you can be assured your data is secure no matter where your company goes. And if you’re ready to take your company on its next online journey, contact us. In all our services, we’ll work with you to ensure you’re protected every step of the way.
Subscribe to our blog for the latest industry trends
IDS Commander iTech2021
No Comments