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MFT. Lessons Learned from the Tortoise and the Hare.

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

Despite my best efforts to remain a casual jogger, I find myself getting up earlier and earlier, running further and further.  I have now become … dare I say it … “a runner.”  And I’m a regular on the “race circuit.”

I’ve learned an invaluable lesson on the circuit, one that even businesses can apply. I quickly learned that my early childhood teachers weren’t being entirely forthcoming when they shared Aesop’s fable of The Tortoise and the Hare.

We all know the fable, right?  During the race, the Hare becomes complacent; stops off for a nap and some nourishment, maybe another nap; then is beaten by the “slow  and steady Tortoise.”  Well, there must be more to the story…

Have you ever tried to win a race running slowly and steadily?  It doesn’t work.  You have to imagine that during the next race, the Hare learned his lesson and wasn’t complacent again.  In the next race, he went faster the WHOLE time and he beat the Tortoise.  Now imagine that Hare is a big hulking beast of a rabbit.  He can run fast -- even with a load on his back.  But what if there are spectators along the course who are not fans of the Hare and attack him the whole time?  Well now the Hare can pick up the Tortoise (shell & all) and carry him on his back.

Fast… strong… secure… THAT is how you win the race every time.

Is your MFT solution fast, strong and secure enough to beat your competition? 

Now you know THE REST of the story.

Kyle

Data harvesting has a whole new meaning. And it’s not pretty!

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

When I was taking Marketing 101 in college, we learned all about the strategic value of data harvesting. By harvesting data – demographics, buying patterns, and the like – we would be able to learn about prospects; customer likes and dislikes; and what messages would best resonate with our targeted audiences. And all of this data was gleaned from public sources, one-on-one interviews, surveys or focus groups and so on. Consumer privacy was not breached under this definition of data harvesting.

The times, they are a changin’.

Today cybercriminals are seeing tremendous value in harvesting data, but we’re not talking about the same old type of data to which my professor was referring. We’re talking about payment card data, financial information, health care records, Social Security numbers and any other personally identifiable information that can be easily snatched in transit and sold on a thriving black market. 

A recent report from SpiderLabs – Global Security Report 2010 – found that cyber attackers “. . . have devised methods to obtain data  . . .  often harvesting data in transit.” How do we neutralize these threats? Yet keep the critical data that drives the world’s businesses flowing? 

Best practice calls for data encryption of all sensitive, regulated and business-critical information – whether it’s at rest in a database or application or in transit.  For data in transit, there’s a new generation of managed file transfer solutions that just may bring back that old definition of data harvesting! For the good of the consumer.

I’d like to hear what your business is doing to protect sensitive data while it’s in transit within and outside your organization.

Until next time,

Kyle

Enterprises Reaping Strategic Value from Managed File Transfer (MFT)

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

What we’re hearing from enterprise IT managers is that robust MFT solutions are significantly improving their supply chain operations. Here are some of the benefits they’re achieving:

• improved communications and collaboration among internal departments and business partners, translating into increased productivity and enhanced partner relationships;
• integration of applications and business processes, streamlining file transfer operations;
• centralized file transfer, reducing costs;
• improved compliance with industry and regulatory mandates, helping meet governance risk-management initiatives;
• reduced charge-backs, faster product-to-market cycles, and improved order-to-fulfillment and invoice-to-cash, generating revenue faster.

Specific features that are helping enterprises realize strategic value from MFT include:

Scalability – ability to scale across extended heterogeneous environments and to scale as business grows
Real-time communications and collaboration – MFT accelerates information sharing across internal departments and among business partners, improving speed and accuracy of decision making
Reliability – assured file delivery and built-in back-up features, eliminating lost files and disruptions in operations
Manageability – centralized control, reducing the number of systems that need to be maintained

We would like to hear from you. Is your enterprise reaping strategic value from MFT?
Until next time,

Kyle
 

HITECH Act Enforcement and Heightened Regulation Begins February 18th

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

By extending HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) rules for secure transfer of protected health information (PHI), the 2009 HITECH ( Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act mandates that health care providers enforce encryption and audit controls over all business processes involved with data transfers. The provisions with the most significant impact for health care organizations are the mandatory breach notification requirements, combined with a new, punitive enforcement scheme. The risks for penalties, fines, brand damage and loss of business are great. So, what does that mean when it comes to the risk to your health care organization? It means that your organization can be heavily fined for data breaches. And you, your employees and business partners are even subject to criminal penalties. 

What’s your best option for ensuring that you, your employees and business associates are in compliance with the spirit and letter of HITECH? The simple answer is secure all PHI according to HHS (Health and Human Services) guidelines. Make certain that all electronic PHI is encrypted. For PHI that is in transit within or outside your organization that means employing a Managed File Transfer solution that meets best practices for data encryption. 

Are you ready for February 18th?

Until next time,
Kyle

Retailers See an Encouraging Start to Holiday Shopping Season

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

November 30th was the strongest Cyber Monday since the term was coined five years ago, matching the heaviest online spending day on record – December 9, 2008. And ShopperTrak reports that bricks-and-mortar retailers had a 1.6% increase in sales over last year during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

While we’re all keeping an eye on holiday sales (they are, after all, one indication of how our economy is or isn’t recovering from recent woes), many retailers are taking a longer view. Beyond just short-term revenue numbers to longer-term strategic goals of cutting costs, streamlining back-office operations and improving their brand. These savvy retailers are adopting a number of best-in-class technologies to make their strategic goals a reality. Among them – managed file transfer solutions (MFT).

Here are a handful of real-world examples of how retailers are reaping the rewards of MFT:

• “We’ve eliminated any risk associated with the transfer of credit card data to our processer. And we’re now in compliance with the PCI DSS -- our latest audit was a piece of cake.”
• “Previously two people had to spend more than six hours each per day manually transferring customer orders from our web site and telephone orders. Our business volume has grown, and so has our workload. With our new managed file transfer solution, it takes about five minutes a day. We’re spending more time selling, less time chasing down customer orders.”
• “We use it to manage the exchange of electronic files between more than 1,000 retail outlets and our corporate order processing and accounting systems.”
• “We’re now able to meet the file exchange requirements for our retailer network without having to change our business processes. Now we’re extending our MFT solution into our global supplier community.”
• “MFT provides us with a simple, straightforward, secure file transfer solution, one that we put on auto-pilot to automatically transfer financial transactions between our back office applications in different banks on a daily basis.”

We’d love to hear how you’re retail business is doing this holiday season!

Happy holidays!

Kyle

Retailers are Gaining Business Value with MFT

Kyle Parris
Director of Product Management
nuBridges

As retailers wait out the holiday shopping numbers, they’re continuing to enjoy lots of business value from their managed file transfer solutions. Retailers are early adopters of MFT for numerous reasons, but the top two are the need to:

• Exchange exploding volumes of information – online catalogs, product images, price quotes, invoices and so forth; and
• Comply (and prove compliance) with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

The new generation of MFT solutions meets these challenges and many more. Other benefits that retailers tell us they’re reaping include:

• Streamlined global order and fulfillment
• Improved order-to-cash and days-sales-outstanding
• Enhanced competitive sourcing capabilities
• Improved demand forecasting
• Eliminated order and invoice errors
• Reduced costs and headaches associated with PCI DSS compliance
• Met audit and governance requirements
• Reduced transaction costs
• Improved customer loyalty

Until next week,

Kyle

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