In fact, analyst firm Gartner estimates that global spending on offshore outsourcing services will still top $50 billion by 2007—and according to a 2004 Enterprise Systems study, the domestic outsourcing market is 70 percent more. These numbers would be even higher if not for the realistic fear of lost data, intellectual property and business knowledge, as well as the related costs of unwanted international exposure these stories bring.
In most outsourcing situations, organizations need to share sensitive data—much of it valuable intellectual property—with others. Keeping data secure can be extremely difficult when the information is in someone else’s hands, even if those hands belong to a seemingly trusted partner.
Your outsourcing partner, no matter how long and successful the relationship, might have non-secure communications methods (i.e. e-mail, fax, instant messaging or traditional telephone lines) or unsavory employees that don’t value the privacy of your data—or that of your clients—as much as you do.
