Millions and millions of files are transferred every day around the world. But it is not typically done in the most secure and reliable manner. More and more businesses are realizing the shortcomings of traditional file transfer methods like email and file transfer protocol (FTP) and are looking for a more reliable and secure file transfer option. Though FTP is quite alluring with its initial free price tag, it is not the robust solution that most enterprises need. FTP can put an enterprise at risk because it does not offer a recovery mechanism if the transfer fails and you have no way of knowing if the transfer was complete. There is also no provision for data encryption with FTP, which means that sensitive data could easily be exposed in transit.
So what should you be looking for in a file transfer solution? Selecting a reliable and secure file transfer solution is critical. Here are some additional key factors to consider when evaluating a file transfer solution:
- Support for the growing demands of partners and customers. As your business-to-business interactions increase, so will your file transfer requirements. Support for multiple platforms, secure communications, user-interface options, and scalability is essential to an organization’s file transfer strategy.
- Complete reliability. In a perfect world, file transfers would be reliable, accurate, complete, and timely. But all too often, the file transfer process is missing one of these critical elements. Capabilities such as automated retries, exception alerts, and file transfer queuing will provide the reliability needed to detect problems, notify senders, and recover transfers when transmissions fail.
- Support for internal and external security mandates. Every time data moves across the network, there’s risk involved. It’s important to choose a managed file transfer (MFT) solution that provides comprehensive support for the necessary authentication, authorization, and encryption technologies. The solution should also include a full set of secure protocols, including HTTPS, FTPS, SFTP, and PGP over FTP.
- Ease of use. When evaluating different solutions, it’s important to ask these key questions: Is this file exchange solution easy to deploy and manage? Does the solution offer detailed reporting and auditing capabilities? How convenient is the recipient experience? An effective MFT solution will provide a positive user experience for partners, customers, and employees. It will also reduce or even eliminate manual effort on the part of the user.
For more information on reliable and secure file transfers, you can take a look at our solution brief Securing Internet File Transfers.
What do you look for?
