Enterprise mobility initiatives are on the rise along with the shift to mobile and hybrid working models. The era of the mobile-first enterprise is here, supported by mobile workflows, applications and devices. As organizations become more mobile-centric, they face an uphill battle in securing data, protecting data privacy and combatting cyber threats. This is especially true when it comes to the use of cloud-based communication and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack and WhatsApp. While these applications might support enterprise mobility, they were not architected with all of the privacy, controls and security mobile enterprises of today need.

Enterprise adoption of Microsoft Teams, Slack and WhatsApp surged during the pandemic as organizations pivoted rapidly to remote work. Over a year later, enterprises are getting a clearer picture of how risky it is to use these tools.

Share and share alike

When it comes to data, sharing is not a good thing for the enterprise. Yet organizations continue to use WhatsApp – a collaboration tool with data sharing built into its DNA. WhatsApp’s recently updated privacy policy states that the app can share users’ information such as their phone number, location and contacts with its parent company Facebook.

This practice runs directly counter to enterprise data privacy and security compliance practices and standards and puts organizations at risk of violating an increasing number of data privacy regulations which are evolving across the globe.

What a nice collection of data you have

Joining WhatsApp in data collection are collaboration tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. For example, Microsoft Teams collects data such as chats, voicemail, shared files, recordings and transcriptions, E-mail address, profile picture, and phone number.

Microsoft Teams and Slack offer weak security and compliance, lacking data retention and content sharing policies. This weak security can lead to data leakage, which can expose sensitive business information, putting the enterprise at risk for steep fines, lawsuits, business disruption, productivity losses, and damage to brand reputation.

Collaboration tools that access, mine, analyze and/or share data are magnifying security and privacy risks for organizations. Organizations can improve their security posture and minimize the risks of noncompliance and data leakage with NetSfere.

NetSfere’s strict no data collection approach never puts organizations at risk. Built with enterprise security in mind, NetSfere’s platform is secure across all users, devices and locations.

There is no question that using communication and collaboration tools that collect and/or share data is a risky proposition for enterprises. With NetSfere enterprises never have to worry about data collection and data sharing - all information shared within the platform is safe.

When it comes to enterprise communication and collaboration platforms, mobile-first enterprises today need a collaboration platform like NetSfere – a platform that is no risk and all ROI.

Contact us today to learn more.