Email is the world’s collaborative tool and is the electronic ‘sending’ system of choice between people, both within and across organizations.

While the capabilities of transferring files via email hasn’t improved much in the past 10 years, the size and sensitivity of files has multiplied ten-fold.

Email usage is ungoverned at most organizations, meaning that employees can attach any file they have access to and send it to anyone in the world.  For CIOs, it’s about more than just security – it’s also about visibility.  If you can’t see the files flowing within and from your organization, you can’t protect them.

And how about employees, who are bound and determined to quickly transfer needed information (which may be confidential) with customers, co-workers and partners?  For the majority of workers, not sending that file for security’s and visibility’s sake is not an option.  Employees will choose ‘productivity’ over ‘security’ if they are given the choice.

Please do take some time to identify and evaluate the tools your employees use to share information with other people and ask yourself if it’s being done in a visible, secure and well managed way.  You’ll likely want to rethink how people are really sharing information at your organization.