It’s that time of year again when analysts, journalists and companies try to predict the year ahead. I’d like to throw my opinion into the ring to offer some practical predictions for 2014 in the content compliance and security space.
1. Privacy Regulations will Grow Tighter in the Wake of High Profile Breaches
As of December 31, 2013, Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has reported 619 breaches, exposing the personal information of 57,868,922 individuals, for the year. During 2013, we saw high profile breaches including the Snowden NSA breach and ended it with thieves hacking into the credit and debit card data of as many as 40 million Target customers. Legislators will continue to look at how to put tighter regulations in place around protecting personal data. Organizations in turn will need to think about making sure data has multiple layers of protection to guard against both outside and inside threats.
2. Enterprise Social Adoption Will Grow to Fuel Productivity
Social has taken over people’s personal lives, and the trend of building social business platforms into the day to lives of professionals is here to stay. SharePoint 2013, Yammer, and NewsGator all make it easy to do so. Companies are increasingly coming to us looking for solutions to wrap compliance around enterprise social initiatives aimed at improving productivity and communication. This will continue to be a concern in 2014, especially in highly regulated industries like financial services that must set-up information barriers between groups. Enterprise Social can be rolled-out successfully in these types of organizations with the right technologies in place.
3. Mobile Security Becomes Front of Mind
Companies have been slow to put mobile security on their list of must haves. The mobile workforce is here to stay. I predict that mobile usage in the enterprise will continue to grow, which in turn will force companies to assess mobile access and look to put technological controls in place to mitigate mobile risk. The key is not to ban mobile devices, but rather to control the data that can be accessed from them.
4. SharePoint in the Cloud Adoption Rises
While on-premise SharePoint solutions are the foundation that many companies rely on, I do see many companies starting to consider how cloud-based Office 365 and hybrid options can play a role in their organization in 2014. In turn this will cause companies to look at their strategies for protecting data in the cloud. That said, companies will also need to protect data sitting on on-premises installs and legacy systems like File Shares.
5. Web Accessibility Move Towards WCAG 2.0 Global Standard
While there are no regulations yet for private organizations, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) revisions slated to be revealed in 2014 seem to be headed towards adopting WCAG 2.0 as the US new standard. The evidence also suggests that the new regulations will extend to corporate websites, making web accessibility a requirement for both the private and public sector. The changes will force companies to look for solutions to help them quickly evaluate and remediate web content to meet compliance.
Learn more about securing your content and complying with industry regulations and company policies for social, mobile, and web accessibility.
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For expert advice on security, why not attend Michael Noel’s ESPC14 session ‘Understanding the Five Layers of SharePoint Security‘ in Barcelona Spain from 5-8 May. In the mean time check out Michael Noel’s ESPC13 conference presentation on ‘SharePoint Security Options for SharePoint 2013 Farms’ Download Now>>
