A NEW COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER: Safeguarding Your Team and Customers

Chris Peregrine, Head of Product Management at Digital Well

When it comes to customer care teams striving to provide an excellent customer experience, choosing the right communications partner is vital. In an increasingly cyber-threatened world, the stakes are even higher, requiring a partner who can keep your organisation compliant and secure. So how do organisations conduct thorough due diligence when selecting a communication partner to ensure the protection of your teams and customers?

Safeguarding Communication Teams with Secure Customer Experience Tools

To offer a secure environment for your communication teams, it is essential to adopt best practices and employ secure customer experience tools. By leveraging secure customer experience tools, businesses can instil confidence in their communication teams, knowing that they are equipped with the necessary resources to handle customer data securely and responsibly.

These tools encompass a range of features and functionalities that contribute to safeguarding sensitive information. For instance, encryption is essential to securing communication tools, as it fortifies data transmitted between parties, so it remains private and protected from unauthorised access. By encrypting customer interactions, businesses can effectively shield their communication teams from potential breaches and maintain the trust of their customers. Furthermore, secure customer experience tools often incorporate robust authentication mechanisms, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA).

MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide multiple forms of identification before accessing sensitive customer data. By implementing MFA, businesses can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorised access, mitigating potential threats and fortifying the overall security posture of their communication teams.

Understanding the Risks in Communication Strategies

Effective communication strategies are vital for businesses, but they also come with risks that can be exploited by cyber threats. By recognising these risks, businesses can take practical steps to alleviate them, protecting their operations and customer data.

One significant risk is the transmission of sensitive information over unsecured channels. Businesses use various communication platforms, but these can be targeted by cybercriminals. Employing secure communication tools and practices, such as encryption and multi-factor authentication, decreases the chance of a data breach.

The human element is another critical risk. Employees can unknowingly become vulnerabilities if they are not trained to recognise and respond to cyber threats. By providing comprehensive cybersecurity training, businesses empower their employees to identify and report suspicious activities, minimising the risks of human error.

Remote work and digital communication platforms introduce additional risks. Remote employees with personal devices or on unsecured networks are more vulnerable to attacks. Businesses must establish robust security protocols for remote work environments, including VPNs and secure video conferencing platforms.

Asking the Right Questions during the Selection Process

When selecting a communication partner, it is vital that you ask the right questions to ensure that the chosen candidate can successfully isolate and mitigate cyber risks. By posing targeted inquiries, businesses can gain insight into the partner’s capabilities and align them with their specific cybersecurity needs.

This section presents a comprehensive list of pertinent questions designed to aid businesses in evaluating potential partners and making informed decisions:

• One crucial aspect to consider is whether the prospective partner has a thorough understanding of the current threat landscape and stays updated with emerging cyber risks. Inquire about their knowledge of the latest attack vectors and their proactive measures to address these threats. They should also have a robust approach for ensuring devices are end-to-end protected through a strategy for Unified Endpoint Management (UEM ). By assessing their awareness and preparedness, you can gauge their ability to anticipate and mitigate potential risks effectively.

• Another key consideration is the partner’s experience in implementing and maintaining secure communication strategies. Ask about their track record in safeguarding customer data and their approach to securing sensitive information. Request examples of their previous successes in mitigating cyber threats and inquire about any incidents they have encountered and how they handled them. This information will provide valuable insights into their expertise and their commitment to security.

• Additionally, Forbes Technology Council shares 16 critical questions that should come up in the course of a cybersecurity assessment . They suggest asking if the company is only focused on compliance or if they are also considering cyber risk management as part of a broader business context. The Security Roundtable provides guidance on when to ask follow-up questions about cybersecurity

• In addition to evaluating the partner’s expertise, it is essential to assess their commitment to information security standards. ISO 27001 certification serves as a valuable criterion in this regard. Inquire whether the potential partner possesses this certification, as it demonstrates their adherence to internationally recognised best practices for information security management. ISO 27001 certification ensures that the partner has established robust security controls, risk management processes, and continuous improvement frameworks, giving you confidence in their ability to safeguard your communication teams and customer data.

Strengthening Defences and Enhancing Customer Experiences

Selecting a trustworthy and secure communications partner holds immense significance for businesses striving to provide unparalleled customer experiences while prioritising the safety of their teams and customers. By adhering to the guidelines presented above, organisations can undertake thorough due diligence and make well-informed choices, guaranteeing the selection of a partner well-prepared to tackle cyber risks. It is crucial to remember that the search for the ideal partner extends beyond enhancing communication; it involves fortifying your defences against the ever-evolving landscape of threats. By partnering with a reliable communications provider, businesses can unlock a multitude of benefits. Not only can they elevate the quality of customer interactions, but they can also instil confidence in their stakeholders by demonstrating a proactive approach to security. A well-selected partner empowers organisations to navigate the complexities of communication strategies with ease, enabling them to focus on their core competencies while knowing that their sensitive data and operational integrity are safeguarded. Investing the necessary time and effort into selecting a dependable communications partner paves the way for sustained success and resilience in an increasingly interconnected world.

Why did you choose to launch in the UK and what have been the main challenges?

The UK is the biggest market in Europe and is very advanced in the world of freelancing, with over 1.9 million freelancers contributing an estimated £278bn to the UK economy each year1. That’s why launching in the UK was an obvious next step for Malt, and acquiring COMATCH last year, a German-founded curated marketplace for independent management consultants and industry experts with a strong presence in the UK, helped us to kick-start that expansion.

However, a lot has changed following Brexit and the pandemic, so launching Malt last year has certainly been more challenging than it could have been years ago. Acquiring visas for our employees in other markets to