A few years ago, I wrote a blog entitled Turntables, Tone Arms, and Trust about the aggravation of hearing data breach news repeating like a skipping record. Same story, different breach, over and over and over and over and… you get the idea. Sometimes it’s easy to tune out and miss the lessons that can be learned through misfortune. When that happens, there’s a risk of taking shortcuts rather than fixing the problem. At the time I described the quick fix of a skipping record this way:
“Occasionally a record would skip, thanks to some bit of dirt lodging in a groove. When that happened, a common fix would be to balance a nickel or quarter on the head of the tone arm. The added weight would often be enough to power the stylus through the obstruction rather than skip back.”
No One Likes “I Told You So”
No one likes to hear a skipping record. It’s annoying. Especially when it’s someone repeating the same thing you’ve heard them say before. But I’ll risk the nag by repeating something we’ve been saying a lot lately because it bears repeating. And you can either stack a few coins on my head and hope that I power through, and you won’t have to hear it again—or you can do something about it and not suffer the indignity of hearing the even more annoying, “I told you so.”
Stop it with the do-it-yourself managed file transfers.
Our CEO Greg Hoffer put a fine point on it when he posted to LinkedIn:
“How many companies out there let their IT team code their accounting system? [K]eeping the books is super important, and you would face financial meltdown, reputational damage, compliance risks, and more should things go wrong. Instead, you entrust those accounting crown jewels to a reputable commercial solution, not an IT team without the requisite expertise.
“So why are you treating your file exchanges with partners, suppliers, vendors, and customers any differently?”
Protecting PII, PHI, IP, BI and More
Exactly. File transfers often contain some of an organization’s most sensitive data. It might be personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), intellectual property (IP), or confidential business intelligence (BI) that is essential to the success of your operation. Yet, for some reason, many organizations treat their file transfers with a low priority for security and reliability and they demonstrate that lack of respect by trying to go the do-it-yourself route. Big mistake. Greg goes on to say:
“The data you send or receive across your corporate boundary is sensitive, business critical, and faces compliance and security risks. Missed SLAs, failing regulatory compliance, data breaches—are these risks worth a DIY solution?
“Please stop wasting your corporate money on tasking the IT team to build solutions to transfer files out of Python, PowerShell, or disparate open-source solutions that are cobbled together. They put your company at unnecessary risk. You can spend less money and task your IT to more meaningful projects by entrusting your file transfers to a reputable commercial solution.”
Ethical, Transparent, Excellent
Yes, we believe that our Diplomat MFT secure managed file transfer software should be a leading candidate for that responsibility. It is proven to be secure and reliable in some of the most demanding file transfer environments. Some of our customers really put Diplomat MFT to the test with millions of files transferred per day, tens of thousands of individual jobs per day, and multiple terabyte file size totals. And because we offer Diplomat MFT at an ethical, transparent price, it represents an excellent value that is probably less expensive than a DIY approach—and without the associated risk. Plus, when you invest in Diplomat MFT, you get Coviant Software’s legendary customer service, rated best in our industry.
Get in touch with me to learn more; or take Diplomat MFT for a free, 15-day test drive. You’ll be glad you did.
