Three advantages of outsourcing HRMS data security

Business process outsourcing is popular, in particular for smaller businesses that may not have in-house specialists. But would you want to outsource the data security for your HRMS?

To begin with, there are some practical questions, including can the supplier provide a better service for the same (or lower) cost? Can that supplier meet your government compliance requirements (and bear in mind that if they don’t and that failure attracts sanctions or fines, it’s you that is liable not them)? But it may be worth working through such questions (and taking such risks) because outsourcing does carry some advantages.

1. Cost

Security expertise and activities can be expensive. They can also be sporadic which means that expense isn’t always even. Also, you don’t have to outsource everything – using a combined approach means you can keep anything you regard as too ‘high-risk’ in-house and hand over the rest. Outsourcing aspects such as database security, firewall management, vulnerability testing, and anti-malware and paying a regular fee mean you can even out the cost of HRMS data security.

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2. Specialist knowledge

As mentioned above, many businesses don’t have in-depth data security expertise in-house. This alone is sufficient reason to consider outsourcing. After all, data security is an ongoing concern and once you have the right provider for you, they can deploy their specialist knowledge on your behalf: monitoring activity, carrying out risk assessments for new apps and systems, supporting a new BYOD policy, and so on.

3. It may be easier to manage

Consider the relationship between the HR team and the in-house IT team. Now consider the relationship HR might have with an external security service provider. In most organizations, unless you have seniority or a higher position in the hierarchy, getting other departments and teams to cooperate is largely a matter of negotiation. With a service provider on the other hand, you have significantly more leverage. After all, you’re paying for their services and that can be both carrot and stick when it comes to meeting your data security needs.

Besides, you’re probably already doing it…

Cloud HRMS solutions are increasingly popular and if you’re using one, your data is already stored off-site and subject to someone else’s scrutiny and protection. Hopefully, when you agreed the contract and service level agreement, you looked into the cloud provider’s information security plan, data governance structure, disaster recovery planning, uptime performance records, compliance history, and ability to successfully recover data from a backup.

Don’t forget, while your people’s stored information may not be the most ‘business-critical’ data that you have to manage, it can be some of the most sensitive. After all, if you (or your outsourced security provider) lose your employees’ name, address and bank details, you’re in for a mutiny.