Avoid data loss: move mobile CRM to VPN, warns CPiO

That’s the warning from John Haigh, head of CRM at Sage implementer CPiO. “In the world of customer care, mobile CRM may be seen as the best way to guarantee first-class customer service, but organisations need to be conscious of the security risks involved in porting sensitive customer data on to remote devices,” he says. He makes the point that manufacturers are increasingly encouraging employees to access their systems remotely, in a bid to offer flexible working and to improve service, but advises: “Businesses need to take notice of the potentially damaging data loss errors made by some government departments… It simply makes sense to ensure that a remote working system will not in any way put business-critical data at risk. “When it comes to remote working, too many businesses are still using an outdated synchronising approach, where remote workers download the latest data off of the server on a daily basis. [But] encouraging employees to download information from your server on to their laptops can only result in disparate databases across the sales team. Duplicating your business-critical data onto portable devices is patently the first step to either data theft or misplaced information.” Companies should avoid synchronisation and instead look to CRM suppliers that can deploy safe and secure remote working processes, such as via a VPN (virtual private network), he says. “A VPN has numerous benefits. It allows any organisation to feel safe in the knowledge that all company information will remain securely stored in one place.” It allows full control over who can and cannot access sensitive company data. “Anybody can be blocked from the server at any point – as soon as suspicions arise that someone might be a potential security threat to the company, restrictions can be implemented even to the point of completely disabling any ability to see customer information.” Setting up a VPN is straightforward, he says, and should be a crucial aspect to any CRM system where mobile workers are accessing data for information or updating purposes.