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MFT Vendor Due Diligence is Complete. Software is Installed. What Benefits are You Reaping?

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

Last week I talked about things to consider when looking for a Managed File Transfer solution. You have done your due diligence. You’ve chosen your vendor based on your business requirements. And all went swimmingly with implementation.

So, now you have a single solution, and it’s integrated with your internal systems and with all of your trading partners. You can send files of any type via any protocol from one centralized place.

Your data is secure. Whether or not the files you send contain sensitive data, they can be secured using whatever protocols your suppliers, customers or other business partners require. You can also prove they were secure when they were sent using industry and regulatory compliance standards in audit logging. In addition to secure protocols, your data is also secured by other means as it travels around your enterprise using best practices technologies on the back-end.

Though your data is safe, you can still do business quickly and easily; more quickly and with less effort than ever before. You have protected your data, and you have used the centralized console to administer a fine level of detail regarding who can and should access the sensitive data.

You have reduced your administrative costs in several ways, including: reducing the number of point solutions being supported and administered; removing script processes and disparate end point clients; and (perhaps best of all) you’re pushing business partner administration out to the business partner! Your business processes are now poised to react based on whatever turn the market takes.

You can now scale on demand -- hopefully UP!


Until next week,

Kyle
 

Not All MFT Solutions Are Created Equal

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

There are, of course, a number of standouts in the new generation of managed file transfer (MFT) solutions. But there are also a number that may not meet the file transfer needs of organizations that require secure, reliable and integrated communication gateways.

Some of the things you should consider when vetting prospective MFT providers about an enterprise-class MFT are:

• The MFT must be pervasive.  Ask providers what platforms they support (Hardware, OS, DB, etc); ask what protocols they support; what encryption algorithms, etc.
• Partner management can be difficult and time consuming.  Understand the vendor’s capabilities around the set-up and maintenance of trading partners, customers, suppliers and other business partners.  If you trade with numerous partners, consider a solution that allows them to manage themselves; taking the administrative burden off of your organization.
• A key component of MFT is centrality.  Integration of a single solution to all of your back-end office systems and with your strategic partners is critical.  Make sure you understand the provider’s integration capabilities.  Are they web interface enabled?  Do they require separate client applications at each end point, or can they integrate to existing applications?
• There are several considerations where sensitive data is being moved . . .
  • In addition to the supported secure protocols and encryption methods, what other security features does the solution offer?  This can be related to user authentication and authorization; as well as to the back-end protocols once the files have made it inside your enterprise.  Consider every angle of security and ask the vendor how they address each concern.
  • Proving compliance is a necessity.  Dig into the provider’s reporting, alerting and notification capabilities.  Make sure the solution meets requirements for compliance audits and risk management.
• Speaking of reporting, make sure you have visibility to vital transaction information as it happens.  This can be delivered via a management console or dashboard.
• Some solutions, such as secure e-mail, have file size limitations.  It is important to understand how these file size limitations can affect your ability to do business. 

To help enterprises analyze the solutions that are currently available, nuBridges offers a white paper that explores the key best practices that define enterprise-class MFT solutions.

Download your free copy of “Best Practices in Enterprise File Transfer.” Once you read the white paper, we’d really like to hear from you! We’ll respond to your comments in our next blog.

Until next week,

Kyle
 

 

Annual Atlanta ISSA Conference Update

First International ISSA Conference to be Held in Atlanta in 2010

Gary Palgon
Vice President, Product Management
nuBridges

The Metro Atlanta ISSA hosted its 5th annual information security conference on Veteran’s Day, November 11th, with the theme of "Magnify Your Security." It was great to see they took time out in the opening session to recognize the dozen or so Veterans among the attendees. Thanks to all of you have served and do serve our country!

It was formally announced that Atlanta will host the first international ISSA conference on September 15-17, 2010. This is great news for the ISSA community as well as for Atlanta, which has historically been the home for many security startups -- Internet Security Systems (now IBM ISS); SPIDynamics (now HP), PureWire (now Barracuda Networks), CipherTrust (now SecureComputing) and many more.

Also of interest at the annual Atlanta ISSA meeting was a presentation by Kevin Campbell of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, covering PWC’s Global State of Information Security Survey.  Lots of great and timely information about spending and security breaches.  Kevin summarized the executives’ views in the coming year as focused on looking at and placing their highest expectations on initiatives that:

• Protect data
• Address the big risks first
• Pull this portfolio of multi-year investments together (strategy)
• Reduce cost and increase efficiency
• Prepare for a wave of new regulations (e.g. State Breach Notification Laws)

To the last point, he noted that because of the effect of the economic downturn, regulations are on the rise – led perhaps by a new wave of privacy laws.

Until next time,
Gary

 

Enterprises Work Smarter, Faster with New Generation of MFT

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

In my blog last week, I promised that I’d share some specific, real-world examples of how enterprises are benefitting from the new generation of Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions. And I will. But first I want to share some insights we’ve gained from speaking with a number of organizations recently.

We’ve learned that MFT solutions are significantly improving and streamlining the way these enterprises are exchanging critical information inside and outside their organization.  Several enterprises noted that they’re now able to more quickly and “intelligently” respond to business events and market conditions, helping them make smarter, faster decisions. We’ve also learned that top line and bottom line results are being positively impacted by improved order-to-fulfillment processes; reduced charge-backs and returns; and improved invoice-to-cash cycles.

As promised, here are a few real-world examples that illustrate how these benefits translate into business value:

• A regional hospital system is improving revenue cycle management by eliminating billing errors, creating clean claims and streamlining billing operations across its network.
• A multi-national pharmaceutical company is sharing clinical studies to speed up the FDA-approval process, providing faster product-to-market cycles and generating revenue faster.
• With its MFT solution, a large fulfillment operation is reducing inventory discrepancies, reducing costs associated with picking errors, improving invoice payment cycles and ensuring optimal distribution of manufactured products.
• A global computer retailer is driving efficiency in its customer order-to-fulfillment processes by effectively responding to bottlenecks through notifications that drive action and inform customers about order delays. In this case, a best-in-class MFT solution is helping the retailer drive more efficiency through real-time measuring and monitoring activities.
• One of the world’s largest retailers is exchanging purchase orders, invoices and other business-critical documents with more than 15,000 global suppliers to reduce the order-to-cash cycle.

Care to share how MFT helped your bottom line? We’d love to hear from you.

Until next week,

Kyle

PS... To help enterprises analyze the solutions that are currently available, nuBridges presents a discussion of the key best practices that define enterprise-class Managed File Transfer solutions.  Request a copy of the White Paper, "Best Practices in Managed File Transfer Solutions" today.