News recently broke about a “supermassive” data leak of 12 terabytes of information spanning 26 billion records. Dubbed the MOAB (Mother of All Breaches), the stolen data set contains information taken from multiple platforms, including Twitter, LinkedIn and Tencent, and is described as “dangerous”; there is considerable risk that the data will enable identity theft and unauthorised access to sensitive and personal accounts.
The MOAB got us thinking about how widespread email use still is, and how it is still a frequently used technology for many parts of customer journeys. With the breach likely resulting in increased email account theft, there is a heightened risk that the transfer of sensitive information and documents – a key component of the customer onboarding process – becomes compromised, and as a result leaving both customers and businesses vulnerable to exploitation.
With regulations such as GDPR putting significant compliance pressure on the collection and handling of sensitive information, and the varying pressures to understand individual customers creating a significant need around data collection and usage, there is a growing need for a frictionless, accurate, and secure method of information transfer. Incorporating a document upload portal into a personalised customer journey is a secure and agile means to solving this problem.
Email is Still the Norm
As the digital landscape continues to rapidly evolve, the reliance on email communication still remains; Statista estimate that 347 billion emails were sent in 2023, marking a 4.2% increase from 2022. Despite the availability of document upload portals, there remains an industry-wide reliance on email usage; bringing a number of serious security and compliance risks and making it imperative that both individuals and businesses explore alternatives when looking to transfer sensitive information.
Emails have become a treasure trove of information about an individual, posing an attractive target for cybercriminals. The rise of AI technology further complicates this scenario, potentially exacerbating the vulnerability of email systems. Alarming statistics from platforms like Have I Been Pwned reveal that almost 13 billion accounts have fallen victim to data breaches, with a significant portion of the stolen information available for sale on the dark web. Password anxiety is another pressing concern associated with email usage, leading individuals to resort to using simpler or similar passwords across multiple accounts, therefore creating a domino effect wherein a single breach can easily compromise multiple accounts.
It’s vital that organisations start to adopt personalised document upload portals within their digital customer onboarding process. Providing a portal improves your data security, your operational efficiency, and your customer experience – reducing errors while improving the accuracy of your data.
The Risks of Email for Data Transfer
While most would recognise the risks posed by email, it is still common practice to use it to transfer sensitive information within a customer journey – using email takes advantage of minimal technological requirements and widespread know-how among consumers.
It’s not just security, though, where email has significant weaknesses. Using email as a key information transfer component within a customer journey introduces huge challenges for both the customer and the business.
Data Protection
Email lacks the robust security measures required to adequately safeguard sensitive information. Document upload portals offer a more secure environment with controlled access, audit trails and automated enforcements of data retention policies.
Operational Efficiency
The reliance on manual processes in email communication leaves room for human error, potentially leading to data inaccuracies. Document upload portals streamline these processes through automation, speeding up processing whilst also significantly reducing the likelihood of errors.
Scalability
Email struggles to efficiently respond to an increase in the volume of data transfers. Document upload portals provide a scalable alternative – turning your customer onboarding process into an agile one that’s capable of seamlessly adapting to growing demands.
Data Governance
Email lacks comprehensive data governance and audit trail features, making it challenging for businesses to track and monitor data transfers. Document upload portals offer enhanced governance, ensuring compliance with regulations and providing a transparent audit trail.
Customer Experience
Email exchanges typically take place in order to obtain accurate information. Personalised document upload portals streamline this process by requesting only the information they require, allowing for a more efficient and direct exchange of information. Customers have a preference for fast, efficient, and accurate journeys – something that email struggles to deliver.
Integration
Email-based interactions can disrupt the seamless flow of online customer journeys. Document upload portals integrate seamlessly into the customers web journey, enhancing the overall user experience.
The PrinSIX Approach
As digital risks escalate alongside evolving communication landscapes and customer expectations, businesses need to be able to ensure that their data collection and use is as secure, accurate, and transparent as possible. As we’ve discussed, traditional email communication is littered with vulnerabilities – businesses need an alternative approach, that facilitates seamless, secure, and efficient data transfer.
PrinSIX’s digital customer journeys are transformative to a client’s onboarding processes. PrinSIX’s technology is designed to personalise each customer’s digital experience, obtaining the correct data at the correct time – enhancing data accuracy and customer understanding, while also guaranteeing regulatory compliance. With the potential for quick validation in real time, and no need for the user to change platform, friction within the customer journey is dramatically reduced – giving onboarding rates a significant boost. Supporting communications between customers and agents, time taken to serve is minimised, drastically reducing drop-off.
Unlike other secure file transfer tools, which function as standalone utilities, our customer journeys provide a complete digital experience with seamlessly embedded document upload portals. This results in a personalised, guided experience where each customer provides the right documentation at the right time – and removes the need for an IT team to build a complicated journey around a standalone file transfer tool. Our journeys integrate directly into your website flows and can provide automated customer communications, driving higher conversion and completion rates by minimising drop-off.
Data is stored in a secure cloud environment, reducing the risk of data breaches or data being retained in either the customer or the business email account. Our platform is personalised for each customer to reduce friction in their digital journey and aligns with GDPR requirements by only requesting required information.
If you’re interested in learning more about our document upload portals or personalised digital journeys, please get in touch with the PrinSIX team here.
