Corporate data is the lifeblood of business and because of remote work and constant competitive pressures, it is more vulnerable than ever.  Protecting that data while still making it available to those who need it is why many organizations are turning to Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM).

Information security, privacy, regulatory compliance, and data governance requirements drive how we manage corporate data.  Business requires us to share sensitive information with employees, contractors, business partners, and customers, but we need a way to do it securely without impacting everyone’s productivity.

The realities of today mean that many of us may work from any location at any time, using any device.  Outsourced functions range from finance and human resources (HR) to design and manufacturing.  If you outsource manufacturing or finance to a third party, how do you define your corporate boundary for data, since your sensitive information is in the hands of a business partner?  Add to this the real threat of external hackers and insider threats from employees, contractors, and the third parties you use for key business functions.

How do you protect the most important information in your business?

Here are 5 reasons why you should seriously consider Enterprise DRM as part of your information security, data governance, and compliance strategy.

Protect Your Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) is a critical asset for your business.  It lets you create unique products and services that drive revenue.  It differentiates you from the competition and keeps your customers coming back.  If this information accidentally or deliberately leaks, you can suffer financial loss and possibly go out of business.

EDRM protects your intellectual property from unauthorized access and controls what an authorized user can do with it.  You can grant or block a user’s ability to view, edit, print, copy, and even take a screen capture of the information.  You can control derivatives of documents since people share IP in PDF or other common formats with both internal and external recipients.  Since you have a complete audit trail of user and document activity, you know if someone accessed the documents inside or outside your network.  You can also revoke access or change permissions after you distribute a document if the sensitivity of the information changes or those who should have access to it.

Protect Customer Data

Any business that deals with personal information or takes credit cards must protect it from unauthorized access.  Regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and other numerous laws mandate that third-party data is under strict control and only authorized people can access it.  Violations can result in hefty fines and cause major legal and business problems.

EDRM controls how employees, contractors, and business partners use this sensitive information.  It can prevent sharing the data with unauthorized users by controlling access, screen captures, and adding visible watermarks to both printed documents and those viewed on a screen or mobile device.  Since third-party data typically has a shelf life, you can limit access to a specific time and revoke access to any distributed files immediately, regardless of location.

Protect Your Customer’s Intellectual Property

You may also be a steward of your customer’s intellectual property.  Manufacturing and business services organizations commonly have sensitive designs or client data that is worth stealing.  An organization’s supply chain can be the weakest link in its security which makes it an easy target for hackers and trusted insiders.  Your customers trust you with keeping their intellectual property safe and out of the hands of their competitors.

Enterprise DRM protects your customer’s intellectual property from unauthorized access.  You can automatically encrypt and assign access controls to sensitive documents as you save them.  If different groups use this information, you can easily limit access based on projects or customers.  If an employee working with one customer’s data accidentally shares it with another customer, you are protected since only authorized users can see and use the data.  This provides built-in safeguards for those people working on multiple projects.

Protect Employee Privacy

HR, Finance, and other departments have a lot of sensitive employee data, including social security and insurance numbers, health information, salary data, and the results of drug tests or criminal background checks.  Controlling its access and distribution is part of the social and legal compact any employee has with her or his employer.

Enterprise digital rights management can limit access to private information by controlling the users and groups that can see it.  You can control access dynamically through your identity access management (IAM) system so that as roles change in your company, so do access rights.  For information you share with outside service providers, you can provide read-only copies that you can revoke at any time.  Only recipients granted access can see the data, so your employees and outside providers can’t share the data with unauthorized users.

Provide Audit Trails

Regulatory compliance is a requirement for many businesses to prove they can manage critical information in a way that ensures chain of custody and proof that only authorized users had access.  Compliance is not just a matter of the law but is generally considered good business practice.  Compliant companies can prove they take information security and governance seriously and can use this as a selling point to their customers.

Enterprise digital rights management provides an audit trail of all user and file activities to ensure a chain of custody of information for electronic discovery and proves that only authorized users have access to sensitive data. This helps your organization understand the flow of important information and simplifies eDiscovery in the event of litigation.  Since many regulations require you to prove to a regulator that you meet their requirements for protecting privacy, audit trails are easily available in downloadable reports.

Enterprise DRM can help you meet information security, regulatory compliance, and data governance objectives, ensure privacy and protect the digital assets of your company.  It is the best way to protect your most important business information and get a good night’s sleep.

To learn more, download our Enterprise DRM whitepaper.