Back-office outsourcing has helped many companies focus on their core business operations and stay on top of their game in the competitive market. It’s a smart move, no doubt. But here’s the thing with back-office outsourcing– data security becomes essential once you let a third party handle and operate with your sensitive data. That’s why understanding the potential risks associated with back-office outsourcing and crafting a defense strategy for ensuring security in outsourced back-office operations should be a top priority.
To provide such security, businesses must be familiar with the latest security systems that ensure they will overcome potential security challenges. Let’s see the best strategies used to protect data in outsourced back-office processes and other important insights on how to implement the strategies for ensuring security.
The Growing Significance of Outsourcing in Back Offices
Outsourcing is not only a flexible business model but an efficient tool for improving the operational sector. Many businesses realized the potential of this business model, and they are proactively using it to simplify the workflow in their company for various back-office functions, including sales, accounting, data analysis, HR, etc.
Moreover, outsourcing back-office services comes with many benefits. One of the primary benefits of back-office outsourcing is cost reduction. With the right outsourcing provider, you can save a large lump sum in staffing costs, and the best part of it all is that you get to choose from a wide pool of talents. That way, companies don’t have to hire, train, and provide the necessary equipment when they can outsource data to a third party. Hence, they reduce costs, and they can refocus the money on other core business activities.
Ultimately, outsourcing provides access to a pool of experts with specialized knowledge and skills. Companies predominately hire professionals with extensive experience and proper training in their respective fields. This is particularly valuable for the healthcare and insurance industries, which often have similar back-office operational challenges. Back-office outsourcing employees handle tasks such as clams, data entry, customer support, and other administrative functions.
Security Challenges in Outsourced Back-Office Operations
Besides the advantages, outsourcing regularly faces security challenges during back-office operations. It’s not always rainbows and butterflies. When you decide on back-office outsourcing, you expose yourself to potential risks, with data breaches, unauthorized access to classified data, and other cyber attacks being among the most popular.
If companies neglect these challenges, they can quickly become safety threats, and we are not talking about minor technical issues. We are talking about losing money to clients and even facing some legal issues, especially concerning the exposure of sensitive data governed by regulations like HIPAA.
Every company deals with these issues differently. Firewalls, encryption codes, AI, or other solutions are included against the security threats. Here at CLICKVISION BPO, we have a deep approach to security threats that employs a combination of advanced security tools to protect our client’s sensitive data. We eliminate all cyber threats before they even have a chance of happening. Some of the security practices we use to mitigate the issues include:
- Regular security audits – we regularly check our security systems to identify the potential threats that may be weakening the security layers.
- Appropriate training for our employees – we make sure that our employees get the best training about security in outsourced back-office operations to raise awareness.
- Robust data encryption – to enhance the security of our client’s data, we implement various encryption methods.
We call these the preventive steps. Regular audits, training employees, and robust encryption ensure our clients’ classified data is not easily accessible. But, to avoid potential cybercrimes, there are other measures and security steps to take.
Source: freepik.com / Photo Contributor: rawpixel.com
Implementing Advanced IT Measures
To maximize the security of the client’s data, outsourcing businesses need security systems with advanced technology. At least, that’s how we protect our client’s data. Our system has several security layers.
The first layer in ensuring security in outsourced back-office operations is robust encryption, as we mentioned above. Robust encryption is like securing data in a digital vault. Robust means that it’s extremely hard to produce a ciphertext for two users. From this, we can understand that even if there’s some malicious activity and someone is trying to breach the data, it remains indecipherable.
Access control, as the name implies, allows us to keep the control in our hands. Apart from access control, other useful measures to prevent access are two-factor authentication, password policies, etc.
On the other hand, to enhance the protection layer, outsourcing businesses use VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), firewalls, intrusion detection, etc. In our experience, a robust firewall is a must. It’s the first protective layer when cyberattacks occur, and it must be strong and enhanced to prevent the access of other third parties.
Also, when transferring data online, it’s advisable to use VPNs to eliminate the possibility of cyber theft. Of course, when working with classified data, both companies should avoid using public Wi-Fi networks.
Compliance and Regulatory Considerations
Dealing with sensitive data requires businesses to adhere to certain data protection laws and industry regulations. Ensuring security in outsourced back-office operations and compliance with these regulations is an essential step to meeting the industry standards for data security.
To comply with the industry standards, outsourcing businesses must regularly conduct risk assessments, training for employees, routine audits, etc. Therefore, implementing a system that will conduct all that will simplify security compliance duty.
However, all outsourcing companies must be updated with the latest regulations and data protection laws. We’re constantly on alert to ensure we provide the best security conditions for our clients. This helps us build trust with our clients and stakeholders.
Continuous Monitoring and Auditing
Continuous monitoring and regular auditing are the best formulae to immunize software security. Outsourcing companies must monitor the security system for any changes in the pattern to identify third parties in the network and ban their access. At the same time, they have to test and assess the system. This will eliminate any liabilities in the system and provide a higher level of security.
Moreover, they can hire a third party to test the security system, or they can do it internally, whatever seems more convenient. Either way, the test must address all potential risks and security protocols to assess its sustainability.
Ultimately, employee training is of utmost importance. Studies show that many security breaches occur due to a lack of knowledge or awareness of the situation. That’s why we invest in programs that stress the importance of social engineering, password and encryption management, and phishing, to name a few to ensure our employees understand their role and how to reach in critical situations.
Building Trust Through Open Communication
Last but not least, open communication and a transparent profile are crucial when building trust between an outsourcing partner and an organization. The outsourcing company must find a way to provide a safe and secure channel for communication with the client that complies with the security regulations.
Source: freepik.com / Photo Contributor: Fantastic Studio
Conclusion
To conclude, ensuring security in outsourced back-office operations is of utmost importance. Given that the entire communication takes place online, the outsourcing provider must have a robust security system and regularly perform audits and testing of the security to eliminate potential threats.
To support the system, outsourcing companies can implement advanced IT security measures like encryption and limited access to classified data. This helps and builds trust with clients and affects the entire reputation of the company.
Organizations should discuss the security measures with the outsourced company openly and choose the one that ticks all the boxes. Here at CLICKVISION BPO, we’re proud to say that besides compliance with the regulations and enhanced security walls, we also train our employees to raise awareness about cyberattack liabilities.