The Rise and Rise of Data Fluidity

“The World is Flat”, pronounced Thomas Friedman in 2005. The concept alluded to the level-playing field that globalization had created for commerce and trade. A tie could be designed in Paris, made in China, invoiced in New York – and subsequently sold in California – all for less than $30.

 While the flattening of the world has made physical goods more fluid, the effect is far more profound for digital goods i.e. Information. In most cases, the value of information increases depending on how much it is consumed. This free movement of data oils the wheels of the modern, global enterprise. It enables today’s global workforce to work seamlessly across different boundaries: network, device, personnel, corporate, and indeed, national boundaries as well.

Data without Borders
There exists perhaps no better example for this than social media – where data keeps flowing in and out of people’s heads, mobile phones, computers, and wearable devices.

Some of the most valuable internet companies in the world have become valuable precisely for this reason – how fluid and easily shareable they make data – while not creating any of it themselves. Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Apple, and LinkedIn are actually data-sharing platforms. Data has become the new currency.

Enterprise Data without Borders
As with any digital transformation, trends in retail waters have started hitting enterprise shores. The value of corporate information – and thus corporate value itself - increases when it is shared (with the right parties). Outsourcing and cross-country collaboration not only reduce costs, but also make organizations more streamlined, competitive, and productive. As a result, traditional boundaries are blurring as the enterprise digital world becomes flatter.

On the other hand, a global workforce, extended supply chains, and increased data access points have made business models increasingly complex. Gone are the days when only your employees (or your countrymen) used to do all your work:

General Motors outsources two-thirds of its jobs overseas. Less than one in five GM vehicles are manufactured in the United States.

When Boeing launched the first commercial flight of its 787 Dreamliner in 2011, more than 50 supply chain partners joined the celebrations.

Banks share customer data with numerous collections agencies for speedy recovery of outstanding bills from delinquent customers.

A pharmaceutical major – instead of manufacturing its drugs itself - shares its drug formulations, manufacturing processes, and other information with third-party API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) manufacturers - which are often located in different countries.  

All of this is accompanied by millions of documents changing hands all across the world. And to facilitate this enormous data exchange, companies have started relying on cloud-based file-sharing systems such as Dropbox, Box, Citrix ShareFile, and others.

Securing Data When it Keeps Moving Around
Such extreme data fluidity, however, also creates problems for data security. Data that’s constantly creating copies of itself is more difficult to secure than data that stays put. Traditional security paradigms are good at protecting traditional data. Today however, while data keeps moving on, data security has stayed where it was years ago – still securing perimeters instead of the data itself.

The ancient approach of erecting walls around data and stagnating data within those walls is neither feasible nor affordable today. Modern business models are built on collaboration and are completely incompatible with such a walled approach. IT is expected to enable business outcomes using technology – and this requires the ability to safely and securely send information outside the enterprise. And the only way to do this is information-centric Information security.  

How can IT achieve this? Information today is accessed on multiple platforms, multiple devices, and multiple locations. This has drastically increased the number of data leakage points. In today’s flat, collaborative, and hyper-connected world, it is impossible to monitor all the systems and devices used by everyone.

Enterprises need security that goes beyond enterprise borders. Securing just the perimeter or the device where the data resides is no longer an option. What you truly need is a solution that secures your information regardless of where it resides – anywhere in the world. After all, how many devices will you control? How many platforms will you secure? How many offshore vendors will you audit?

Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM)
Unlike any other security technology, EDRM secures data in a data-centric fashion. Security stays with the information wherever it goes. A secured document is intelligent enough to determine who can access it, what they can do with it, when, and where.  

This way of securing data places tremendous power in the hands of any organization. Imagine the ability to secure all copies of your data lying with your vendors, partners, consultants, agents, and your entire supply chain.

The ability to secure data while encouraging data collaboration is essential to thriving in today’s world. Enterprises need to achieve ‘Full Spectrum Security’ - i.e. security at all stages of the information lifecycle – without compromising on the free movement of data. And the best and simplest technology to help achieve this is Enterprise Digital Rights Management.
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The writer is Founder and CTO, Seclore