Digest...

Marketers use the most cloud apps in an organization, yet 98 percent of their apps are not “enterprise-ready” and put data at risk, according to a new report on app usage trends by cloud security company Netskope.

 

Enterprises are continuing to adopt cloud apps at a rapid pace, with an average of 508 apps per organization in the second quarter of 2014, up from 461 in the previous quarter, according to the report. Marketing departments, specifically, have seen an increase of 14 apps per enterprise since Q1, for an average total of 61 in use during Q2.

 

But the majority (88.4 percent) of those 500-plus apps are deemed not enterprise-ready, which means they scored a “medium” or “below” on the Cloud Confidence Index. The problem, of course, is that many marketing apps–nearly all of which are not considered enterprise-ready by Netscope–contain customer data.

 

Other factors examined included whether the app enables the auditing of a user, administrator, and data access activities; offers security features, such as support for multifactor authentication, encryption of data at rest, and separation of tenant data in the cloud; and has a well-defined business continuity plan in the event of a technology outage or natural disaster.

 

These include cloud storage apps–one of top categories used by marketing professionals–she said, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box. Other cloud-based apps with a high level of sharing in marketing departments “aren’t apps you’d think about,” such as Evernote, Salesforce, Trello, and Zoho. Often such apps are used to share content with unauthorized users, she said.

 

__________________

► Receive a FREE daily summary of The Marketing Technology Alert directly to your inbox. To subscribe, please go to http://ineomarketing.com/About_The_MAR_Sub.html  (your privacy is protected).