By: Brian Egenrieder, CRO, SyncDog
Stuff happens. When you run into a situation that requires bringing more hands on deck, quickly, one of the last things you want to worry about is managing data security with a third-party contractor.
Collaboration and Concerns
The top three trends that have catapulted the hiring of third-party contractors into common practice are globalization, virtualization and mobilization. These trends have made collaboration with distant team members wonderfully accessible, however, a downside is inherent data vulnerabilities and conflicting geographic data regulations. Thus, when managing third-party contractors, having a grasp on their data hygiene is a must — a considerable operations headache.
Addressing Productivity and Security Barriers
Chances are your contractor’s productivity and security tools won’t align with your own. This is no minor obstacle. You may be thinking to yourself, “So how do I improve third-party contractor management?” The answer — using a flexible application that allows you to implement your preferred suite of digital tools, packaged in an encrypted container, directly to the mobile devices of the third-party contractor’s workforce.
Prior to SyncDog’s Secure.Systems solution, market alternatives were essentially non-existent. Secure.Systems also does something, no other solution on the market does. It prioritizes user experience to improve usability and enhances workflow without skimping on data security. It also gives teams the freedom they need when working with multiple organizations; when a project concludes, the application can be remotely removed from the temporary teams’ devices without impacting their personal data.
Third-Party Contractor Case Study – Utilities
During times of crisis and natural disasters, utility companies typically rely heavily on contractors to come help take care of damages in a rapid manner to ensure their customers aren’t without services for too long. Whether from a sister company or a third-party, the industry has struggled to effectively and safely communicate data such as locations and account information to vendors; largely depending upon manual means of communication, which leads to a number of errors. For example, it’s no help to anyone if the contractors arrive at the wrong locations because someone messed up communicating the street name via text.
By using Secure.Systems, a large east coast utility provider, was able to securely communicate with incoming contractors during an emergency power outage. The real-time exchange of information in the FIPS-compliant (cert. #2687), AES 256-bit encrypted workspace protected the utility company’s proprietary data and IP, both on workers’ devices and in transit to the datacenter. It ensured accurate and timely updates of progress. The GPS tracking capabilities allowed the contracted utility fleets to know exactly where a specific crew member was located and how far they were from where they needed to be next. When the emergency work was over and the extra crews left, the Secure.Systems application was swiftly and easily removed from their devices.
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