It’s a new year and time for new beginnings. Maybe you’ve taken the time to look back over 2021 and assess your choices and have resolved to do better. And maybe one of those areas of improvement is to let go of the need to handle your file transfers manually, and delegate those tedious tasks to a platform designed specifically for the task: managed file transfer (MFT).
Don’t be too freaked out if it seems like I was reading your mind. You’d be surprised how many people—no matter the time of year—think about relieving themselves of the responsibilities associated with making sure files get from Point A to Point B. It’s an especially prevalent idea when we get to the annual transition from old year to new and people start reflecting on those files that didn’t go to the right person or organization; contained sensitive information and were sent in the clear; didn’t make it to their destination on time; didn’t make it to their destination at all.
Then there are those who had the crazy notion that they could save a few dollars by skimming an O’Reilly book and do it themselves, only to realize that there’s a lot of stuff you have to consider when managing the file transfer process: security, scheduling, automation, documentation and auditing, alerts, and a thousand other details that only make themselves known when something goes wrong. Those pennies you saved once ended up costing thousands of dollars in lost time and effort. Maybe they even cost you revenue because your rubber bands and bubble gum proved too unreliable for a customer or two.
If any of that sounds familiar, here are three things you should resolve to do to make sure your file transfers are easy, secure, and reliable in 2022 and beyond:
Ditch that clunky custom script you’ve been using. Whether it was written by some guy who hasn’t worked for the company in nearly ten years (and didn’t leave any documentation behind), or a recent attempt to cobble together some in-house code and “free” cloud services, that’s a road you will regret taking. Legend has it that Robert Frost was inspired to write his famous poem The Road Not Taken when, reflecting on his investment in a managed file transfer platform, he uttered the line, “And that has made all the difference.”
Make sure you encrypt every file you send this year. You spent more than a few sleepless nights in years past hoping that the batch of medical and insurance records replete with personal health information (PHI), credit card transaction files and their sensitive financial data and personally identifiable information (PII), or other vital files wouldn’t be compromised after failing to encrypt them for the journey. That can be an expensive mistake: an average of $4.24 million per incident, according to the Ponemon Institute.
Don’t forget to choose a replacement for RepliWeb. You relied on RepliWeb to handle your managed file transfer tasks for years. But when you learned that Qlik bought the product from Attunity and made the decision to abandon the product and end RepliWeb support on January 31, 2022, you made a note to pick a replacement MFT platform. Well, the date when Repliweb becomes unsupported tech looms at the end of this month. The clock is ticking, and you know that hackers love to attack obsolete and unsupported products, and so you can’t take the risk of putting that decision off.
There’s good news. You can start the New Year off strong by putting all three of those resolutions in the win column with an investment in Diplomat MFT by Coviant Software. Diplomat MFT has the power to tackle enterprise-scale managed file transfers, but at a price-point that makes sense for even smaller business.
We built Diplomat MFT with a focus on security and reliability. It integrates easily with your on-premises tech as well as your cloud infrastructure, automates all the aspects of the file transfer process, has built-in PGP encryption ensuring your files in transit are secure, and includes complete auditability to maintain compliance with regulations like HIPAA, SOX, GDPR, PCI DSS, and other privacy and security regulations.
Try it for free and you’ll see why organizations in healthcare, financial services, retail, government, manufacturing, legal services, energy, transportation and logistics all trust Diplomat MFT to send, receive, store, and retrieve millions of their most important files every day.
And have a Happy New Year!
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