A company likes what is private to remain so. Otherwise, it would not implement secure information systems (IS), nor would it equip itself with document shredders in order to preserve the confidentiality of its strategic data. Unfortunately, these “old” yet necessary reflexes disappear when it comes to systems (Cloud) and software solutions (MA). And that is when industrial espionage thrives!
Has the company made “double standards” its credo? One is entitled to wonder, given the gulf between deeply rooted habits and… new uses (Cloud Computing and non-European software solutions) that happily transgress them.
Data, Cloud Computing, Marketing Automation: the company forgets its best practices!
What exactly are we talking about? The company’s strategic data! For while there are virtually no companies that fail to exercise extreme caution before throwing sensitive documents out into the street, using good old document shredders, or that fail to secure access to their IS with encrypted passwords, these precautions seem to disappear as soon as software solutions (such as Marketing Automation and CRM) and Cloud Computing are involved.
The rub is that many of the “major players” in these sectors are American companies. Nothing objectionable in itself, but it is a factor to take into account when a company wants to maintain a certain level of confidentiality regarding its strategic activity and intellectual property, so as not to expose itself to the risks of industrial espionage.
What about the company’s strategic data?
However respectable they may be, these solutions based outside the European area de facto host companies’ strategic data outside the European legal framework. In other words, French and European companies using these systems, or planning to do so, are opening the door wide to prying eyes! This is a risk they expose themselves to by using non-European solutions, wherever they come from. Because for these, European legislation requires servers to be located in Europe, and therefore under European jurisdiction (read more on this topic “Building a European Data Economy”).
There is no need to revisit the issue of customer privacy (data privacy), we have already discussed it*. What companies must also realize, however, is that by adopting non-continental solutions, their results likewise migrate, in the process, to other horizons.
What, then, of the confidentiality of companies’ strategic data? What of intellectual property? What of the “collusions” between these well-known large companies and possible competitors wishing to gain a foothold in the market? Especially since if, in a market, several companies use solutions from the same non-European continent, it becomes very easy to cross-reference the information and ultimately come to market with an offering that brings together customer expectations… and crushes local companies.
Strategic data!
Political fiction straight out of the worst spy novels, some will say?! No, because this is anything but anecdotal! As early as 2013, Europe found that 1 in 4 continental companies (25%!) had already been confronted with theft of confidential information. Accordingly, in spring 2016, a European Directive on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information against unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure aimed to protect European companies, including SMEs, against economic and industrial espionage.
All these factors should lead business leaders to stop applying double standards when it comes to protecting the company’s strategic data, simply by favoring software solutions (including MA-type solutions) and cloud systems whose servers are located on European soil.
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