Data security is an integral part of an effective eSourcing system and can determine the outcome of a company’s procurement process. Organisations risk data breaches that jeopardise sensitive procurement information without proper data security measures. Businesses frequently turn to eSourcing software with adequate security measures to protect the company’s reputation and financial well-being and to lower the chance of this issue occurring.
But why is data security in eSourcing so crucial, how does it impact your procurement strategy, and what steps can you take to guarantee the safety of your sensitive procurement data? This article will answer your questions to ensure you know how to create a robust procurement data strategy.
What is Procurement Data Security?
Procurement data security encompasses a business’s actions to protect sensitive procurement data that could jeopardise its financial well-being and sustainability. Data protection is crucial to the modern procurement process and mitigates risks throughout the supply chain. Buyers must ensure their organisation remains protected against data breaches that could harm their ability to support and maintain contracts with their top suppliers.
Procurement data security involves how an organisation spends on cybersecurity solutions, supports privacy efforts, and protects against data breaches to guarantee an ethical procurement process.
Why is Data Security Crucial in eSourcing and Procurement?
Data security serves various essential functions to protect eSourcing and procurement practices. Some of the many reasons why data security is crucial in eSourcing and procurement include the following.
Protecting Confidential Information
Procurement data security is vital because it allows leaders to safeguard their company’s confidential information, including pricing, vendor contracts, and sensitive customer data, that must be secured to prevent unauthorised access and avoid data breaches. With a cohesive data security system, eSourcing processes can operate without as much risk.
Ensuring Compliance With Regulations
Organisations can’t guarantee continuous compliance with eSourcing regulations without proper data security measures. Because procurement compliance can get confusing for many people, it’s essential to implement an effective eSourcing solution to prevent non-compliance.
Failure to comply with proper procurement regulations can have various negative consequences, including financial losses, reputational damage, legal liabilities, and contract loss. Data security is essential to gather accurate information and create detailed compliance reports based on untampered data.
Maintaining Trust With Important Parties
Buyers aren’t able to watch their organisation flourish without steady relationships with suppliers and stakeholders. Maintaining trust with necessary parties is only possible through effective data security measures. Because eSourcing is an entirely electronic system, leaders can’t constantly assess a supplier in-person to determine their legitimacy. With data security solutions, companies won’t have to worry as much about a supplier’s reputation and can make decisions and partnerships that maintain high trust.
Preventing Cyber Attacks
No matter the scale, a cyber attack can cause massive damage to your organisation. Since 18 percent of UK companies experience cyber breaches at least once monthly and the number of attacks in the UK is steadily increasing, preventing cyber attacks with data security measures is vital.
Without data security in your procurement process, you leave room for malicious third parties to access sensitive information about you, your suppliers, and your customers. A secure eSourcing platform must protect against cyber attacks to prevent potentially irreparable damage.
Ensures Business Continuity
You want to keep your business operating without disruptions as often as possible. Without data security measures in your eSourcing and procurement process, you can’t guarantee that you won’t encounter massive interruptions to your business.
No data security means that procurement privacy breaches can frequently disrupt your business operations, leading to downtime and lower productivity. This scenario ultimately leads to financial losses and issues with time management that reflect poorly on your business reputation.
The Risks of Data Breaches
Data breaches go beyond minor inconveniences. The best-case scenario with a data breach is a slight interruption that throws off your workday; the worst-case scenario could destroy your business financially and cause significant losses to your reputation. Some of the primary risks of data breaches include the following:
- Data breaches can damage an organisation’s reputation and make your business less trustworthy to partners and suppliers.
- Data breaches can cause a loss of customers, as many consumers will switch to brands with more robust data security protocols.
- Breaches incur hefty costs and financial consequences, including direct fines, funding for forensic investigations, and allocating resources to cover future security costs for a safer solution.
- Data breaches lead to a loss of sensitive data that keeps you and your customers safe. Breaches can risk your customers’ personal information and jeopardise your company’s longevity.
How to Ensure the Safety of Your Sensitive Data
Safeguarding your organisation’s reputation and financial well-being is essential to keeping your business profitable and sustainable in the long term. Data security in the tendering and procurement process provides room for ethical sourcing practices that put the organisation and its customers’ data first and foremost.
Some ways that you can ensure the safety of your company’s sensitive data to reduce the risk of breaches and promote ethical procurement include the following:
- Only collect sensitive data when necessary to complete the procurement process. The less personal data you collect from customers, the less exploitation is possible in a potential data breach.
- Ensure that data is only accessible to specific users who require access to the information rather than making it available throughout your organisation.
- Have a comprehensive procurement data security plan to prevent breaches and prepare a course of action if breaches do occur.
- Store sensitive data correctly and in very few locations through an effective eSourcing platform like Delta eSourcing to access all relevant supplier information in a single platform.
Invest in a Secure eSourcing Platform With Delta eSourcing
The importance of data security in eSourcing cannot be overstated. Protecting procurement data impacts every part of your business during the procurement process, and robust data security solutions are integral to ensure the safety of sensitive data. To guarantee safe practices, organisations require eSourcing solutions like Delta eSourcing to meet their sourcing and safety needs.
Delta eSourcing provides organisations and suppliers with everything they need to safely navigate the sourcing and procurement process. Request a free demo from Delta eSourcing today to learn how Delta can protect your data.
