With an ever growing need for secure business communication and collaboration methods, email still remains the primary means for most organizations to do business. However, the challenge for some organizations is how to communicate securely to their customers.
Business Problem
Today’s business run on information and collaboration. Collaboration which used to be internal is now just as likely to include external parties and while communication methods are established, the type of communication and the risks associated have also changed. With the advent of data breaches and the subsequent legal processes to reduce the risk, encrypting emails ensures that messages intercepted can not be viewed by anyone apart from the intended recipient.
With encryption can come complexity and for the techno-savvy power users, they can with that. But when you have a need to communicate to a non-technical consumer then we must adopt an encryption method that works easily for them. If recipients struggle to read and reply to messages, then they will simply stop using the system and the value of providing secure content delivery is lost.
Providing the greatest flexibility to define policy based encryption with the option to allow end users to control aspects of the encryption process ensures the message is delivered securely.
Deployment
As the solution is hosted is secure regional datacenters, deployment is very simple. Using a relay method, deliver messages over TLS to the hosted service and it will do the rest based on how its been configured to deliver mail. This mechanism takes the guess work of which secure delivery method to use as it can try alternative encryption methods.
Architecture
The managed services are delivered utilizing multiple, SSAE 16 SOC2 Type II certified secure, independently operated data centers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
User Experience
The encryption process can be fully automated based on the source/destination, or content. The Clearswift Gateway will decide if the content requires encryption, however the solution also allows the end user to take control of the encryption process through an Outlook (and OWA) plugin. This is particularly useful in call centers allowing the sender to encrypt the data using a pass phrase that the recipient knows.
Depending on the method of encryption used the recipient receives a message with either an attachment in the case of PDF or links to a Web based portal where they connect via a browser allowing them to read and reply to messages in a familiar format as other Web based mail systems.
