2) Protecting intellectual property when opening up the silos and sharing data
One of the biggest constraints in getting the necessary information across a supply chain is the fear of losing IP. It is a common occurrence that employees expose IP unintentionally or through negligence. For example, sending an email with an attached document that contains complete assembly specifications, when the recipient only needed material properties.
In a study made by Egress Software Technologies, 1006 security professionals at organisations of 500 people or more were surveyed to determine what are the most common technologies through which sensitive data is unintentionally breached by employees. The results were the following:
- External email like a Gmail or Yahoo account (51%)
- Corporate email (46%)
- File sharing via FTP (40%)
- Collaboration tools like Slack or Dropbox (38%)
- SMS or instant messaging apps like Whatsapp (35%)
With growing amounts of communication channels in organizations, it is important to establish clear processes with defined responsibilities for the information sharing. It is also crucial to educate employees on how to follow them. Having a central hub for all collaboration with suppliers can be a smart solution. With access control and granular storage in such system, you are able to control who has access and to what. In that way, you will be able to share only the data intended for sharing and keep the in-house data not exposed to the outside world. Sharing technical data across a supply chain from one dedicated hub will remove confusions, improve control and build trust and confidence in partners.