Your Biggest Security Threat? Your People (But Here’s How to Fix It)

Life sciences companies often go through extraordinary measures to ensure their content is secure. They can provide customized laptops with strict parameters around downloading or set up complicated VPNs for remote access. But often, they miss a key security hole: their own people.

Too often, the requirement of securing data clashes with the requirement of getting the job done. Employees need to share content rapidly, but oftentimes, the more complex a system’s security is, the longer this takes. So, instead of following the “proper” route and keeping content in the content management system, users take a shortcut through the land of email and file shares. According to an AIIM Industry Watch, the need to share content outside the firewall is the most cited reason users bypass on-premise content management. Not exactly secure – not to mention compliant.

Another reason users resort to less-than-secure methods? The software is, quite simply, a mess. Overly complicated, hard-to-use systems are not only frustrating; they’re also a threat to your data. When companies require numerous complex steps to complete a task, they also increase the likelihood of something going wrong along the way.

Think about the sites you use at home: Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc. The transactions on these sites are infinitely more complex than simply finding or sharing content, and yet they are far easier to use. With all of the bells and whistles available for document management systems today, many life sciences companies have lost sight of the basics, bogging users down with difficult processes that are more likely to introduce error.

In fact, user error is often to blame when content goes missing. With Google Services, the number one reason for data loss is user error (watch out for that “delete” button), and virtually none are due to Google service failure. You could build the most robust, secure system on the planet, but if users can’t operate it, errors will surely arise. Of course, no software is immune from user error, but it stands to reason that the more straightforward a system, the less likely they will occur.

If companies are serious about securing their data, they need to provide software that their employees will know how to use and be comfortable with. One idea? Take a page from the consumer web and deploy intuitive software. Of course, an easy-to-use system is only one part of the security puzzle. But long with solid security practices and data backup, it can help bring companies out of the tangled security mess in which the often find themselves.

Brittany Machion is the Marketing Manager at Veeva.