Overcoming Five Managed File Transfer Myths

According to a recent study, the average employee sends and receives 15 email attachments every day — which translates into more than 5,000 attachments per person every year. With that much data being shared, file transfer is a critical process for every business to master. As a result, managed file transfer (MFT) solutions have emerged as a strategic, secure and effective way to handle and manage internal and external file sharing — and analyst group IDC expects the market for MFT products to reach $1.4 billion by 2017. Yet, despite the rapid growth and adoption of the technology, several misconceptions about MFT and its benefits still exist today. In this slideshow, Globalscape has identified the five primary misconceptions regarding MFT.

Globalscape designs and delivers both SMB and enterprise file transfer software and services trusted by the U.S. Army, Fortune 100 companies, and businesses around the world. Its secure FTP product solutions give enterprises and organizations of all sizes better control and visibility of data, simplifying the flow of information across multiple technology platforms and locations worldwide. 

MFT Misconceptions

Click through for five common misconceptions related to managed file transfer solutions, as identified by Globalscape.

MFT Just Moves Data from One Party to Another

Sharing files between coworkers, offices, business systems or even international business partners is often taken for granted and oversimplified. File sharing is more than just moving data around — it’s making sure that sensitive information stays secure without hindering employee productivity, and that organizations remain compliant when moving confidential files. An effective MFT program actually integrates with your existing solutions, facilitating activities such as order entry, critical file archival, notification of critical process activity and many other process-oriented activities. These process solutions can be used to automate manual activities, enabling employees to focus on other aspects of the business. MFT solutions also help keep employee behavior in check and offer administrators visibility into how and where data is being moved – a key benefit for compliance and overall IT governance.

Employees Only Use Company Email and IT-approved Systems to Transfer Sensitive Files

Regardless of what technologies IT has put in place, employees will do what’s easiest for them — and they’re open about it, too. In fact, in a Globalscape survey, nearly two-thirds of employees said they use personal email accounts to share and store confidential work files, citing convenience and familiarity as the two most common reasons. IT needs to invest in secure technologies that map to what users are familiar with. To ensure that employees adopt the technology that IT is investing in, managed file transfer solutions should be as easy as the click of a button to use. Anything more might push end users to use unapproved tools – and jeopardize enterprise security.

Our Employees Know and Follow Our Existing Policies

Chances are your business has a policy in place regarding the sharing of files — but do your employees know it exists? According to Globalscape’s survey, only 47 percent of employees think their companies have policies for sending sensitive files, almost a third said no policies were in place and 22 percent weren’t sure. It’s never safe to assume employees know what to do. It’s up to the IT team to properly train employees on security policies, while educating them on the consequences of failing to follow these policies.

Our Current File Transfer Practice Is Effective

Your existing solution might transfer files from system to system, but what’s happening to your data while it’s in motion? For most file transfer products, your data is safe behind a company’s firewall, but it can be exposed while in motion. Security vulnerabilities are identified in legacy systems every day and having a current system that is fully supported and maintained is critical to maintaining the integrity of the data and complying with the multitude of industry and government regulations imposed on business in today’s world. Security and compliance should never be in question when handling sensitive data. Managed file transfer solutions remove the doubt and give IT teams the necessary visibility into the network.

MFT Is Too Expensive

While enterprise-grade managed file transfer solutions might appear to cost more than consumer file sharing tools and homegrown FTP systems, they perform at a higher level to save your business money in other ways. MFT solutions allow businesses to automate processes, which ramps up employee productivity and requires less IT infrastructure overall. In another recent survey, 60 percent of enterprise respondents estimated that a single hour of downtime costs organizations between $250,000 and $500,000. By integrating MFT solutions into existing business processes, it also gives companies the ability to introduce new security and compliance policies and procedures without drastically changing the way their users conduct business, which improves the adoption rate of the new policies and procedures. As the exchange of information with partners, suppliers, customers and remote employees continues to grow and the loss of this capability has a direct impact on the performance of an organization, the real question to be asked is whether the cost of not having a reliable and supported MFT solution is too expensive.