Using an online collaboration tool does not require businesses to risk everything.
There are some risks involved at the beginning of the selection process, but the biggest potential for a slip-up actually lies in selecting the wrong tool.
And when the right collaboration platform is implemented, online collaboration will certainly provide plenty of opportunities for your organisation to outperform its rivals.
So as your business continues to work towards the goal of dominating on the world stage, here are the five biggest risks posed by online collaboration – and how you can mitigate them by working with a provider of secure online collaboration software.
Security of intellectual property
Concerns about cyber security in general are growing among UK businesses, according to a BSI survey published in November.
With IT departments responsible for keeping an organisation’s data assets and intellectual property safe from hackers and other online threats, it’s not surprising that collaboration software is sometimes viewed with suspicion.
As an online collaboration platform is often used to share information between various parties, the potential for data leakage may initially seem high.
However, it is possible to implement a tool that provides secure online collaboration and will not compromise sensitive information.
Seek out a provider with the ISO 27001 certification – this demonstrates that its security procedures have been tested to the satisfaction of an internationally accredited third party.
Downtime
Every IT director fears downtime, but a sudden outage or technical problem is likely to undermine faith in an untried technology or new piece of software across an organisation.
Periods of downtime can also be extremely damaging for business if key projects cannot be completed on time and valuable data is lost.
To avoid taking this risk with your collaboration tool, look for a provider with a service level agreement that will guarantee a robust, proven and highly-available service.
Access
It’s common for business leaders to worry about who can access sensitive information when it is shared via an online collaboration tool, particularly if a large number of external partners are involved in a project.
The solution is simple – look for secure collaboration software that makes it easy to manage access controls and permissions for each team member.
A collaboration platform like Kahootz also offers a full audit log of all workspace interactions, so you can always see who has viewed particular files and documents.
And finally…choosing an unsuitable tool
By far the biggest risk to your business is selecting a collaboration tool that does not suit your business.
Forget about data breaches or downtime – of course, these are serious issues, but a provider of secure online collaboration software should be able to provide more than adequate protection against them.
However, choosing a collaboration platform that cannot be shaped to your needs, or that contains too many redundant features, is likely to slow down your projects, not speed them up.
