Sponsor: Intralinks

As the business case for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and other cloud computing models solidifi es, more and more companies are incorporating cloud computing into their IT programs. The implication is that an ever-increasing amount of critical information is living “in the cloud.”

Controlling access to digital assets has always been an issue for some organizations, but an increasing amount of regulation and controls have now made this a problem for a much wider range of companies. In addition, evolving business needs and technology advances have changed the traditional boundaries of the organization, making it more difficult for the IT department to manage access to digital assets. Historically, the firewall was regarded as the perimeter of the organization. Employees were predominantly office-based, working on shared drives or PCs, with all data remaining within the company. Any interactions with external parties were conducted by either emailing the relevant data to the external party or allowing limited access to the required data within the application that generated it.

Consumer-focused file sync and share (CFSS) solutions have become one of the most popular categories of applications used in the workplace over the past few years. Led by Dropbox – as well as various freemium and paid offerings from companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple and at least 80 other vendors – these tools allow users automatically to synchronize their files across all of their desktop, laptop, smartphone and tablet platforms. Users implement these tools for a variety of good reasons: to have access to all of their files when working after hours or while traveling, in support of formal or informal telework programs, or to share large files more efficiently or when the corporate email system will not support sharing of files over a certain size

A decade ago, these two words together would have resulted in many blank stares in the majority of boardrooms. Today, speak these two words to Fortune 500 CIOs and CISOs, and they will most likely end up with their head in their hands. Data sovereignty is a critical emerging topic. It addresses the legal and regulatory jurisdictions governing particular digital information and how vendors, customers, and users can manage these overlapping jurisdictions.

The nature of work keeps evolving. Once, work meant being in the office interacting with colleagues, face-to-face, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Now work happens across corporate boundaries — anywhere, anytime, with people around the world. In the past, work tools comprised only a desk, phone, and computer. Now, work tools include multiple computers and mobile devices — both your own and the ones your company provides. Users don’t just use their own devices for work purposes, they are also turning to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers to fill in functional gaps and boost their productivity.

Do you lie awake at night wondering if your company is doing all it can regarding data privacy? You probably should. Almost daily, the news media reports another privacy breach, and it’s hard to escape it as a persistent problem in our information economy. Stories about the privacy foibles of major companies grace the covers of newspapers and magazines. We witness a continuous stream of regulatory fine and sanction announcements and breach notifications. We see organizations singled out in news stories and blog posts and on talk shows for bad privacy practices.