As the number of files being transferred and the costs related to those transfers continue to increase, and as compliance and security demands grow, organisations are looking for a better way to transfer files. They need to make sure that that these files are transferred securely and compliantly, that IT has visibility into what files are going where (whether the file is being exchanged between processes or among people, internally or externally), and that file transfers can be set up and made quickly and easily. Traditional file transfer methods such as FTP lack enterprise-wide management capabilities including - security, compliance, monitoring, and reporting. More complex approaches to file-based integration - B2B integration and EDI - can be inflexible, expensive, and time-consuming to implement and support and only take care of process-related transfers, ignoring the fact that many files are transferred between individuals. And the ad hoc methods adopted by those individuals – e-mail and consumer-grade cloud file sharing services - lack the over sight capabilities that IT requires.

A Whole Lot of Data Going On
Each year, more business users are transferring more and more data. To put all this in context, it's important to note that, these days, there's a whole lot of data going on. In today's information-driven economy, organisations run on data, and they’re transferring billions of files each day. Just how much data is going on? CNET estimates that one billion files are transferred or shared daily and that’s not slowing down.

What’s in these Files?
 Personally Identifiable Information(Pii): Name, physical and e-mail address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security /national identification number), vehicle registration information, driver’s license number, digital credentials, biometrics

 Financial Customer Data: Credit card numbers, financial statements, credit applications, claims

 Business Customer Data: Letters of agreement, statements of work, purchase orders, invoices, corporate financial information, intellectual property, business plans

 Legal Information: Contracts, discovery, privileged communications

 Medical: Patient-provider communications, patient records, test results, X-rays, CT Scans, PT scans, MRIs, prescriptions, insurance claims

 Government And Regulatory Data: Compliance information/audits, tax filings

 Personnel: Payroll data, workmen's compensation, unemployment tax filings, HR records, 401k data, benefits information, employee applications, offers, agreements

Where's It All Going?
Files are being transferred between processes, between people, between people and processes. There are four different file transfer scenarios, and, when considering

managed file transfer scenarios,and, when considering managed file transfer,look for a single solution that can support all of them.

 Process to Process: Many files are automatically transferred between systems. This is especially true when it comes to an organisation's external partners - clients, vendors, service providers, government organisations.

 Person to Person: Ad hoc or impromptu file transfers from one person to one or more other parties.

 Process to Person: These transfers occur when an automated process creates a file or report and transfers it automatically to a person, based either on a schedule or an event.

 Person to Process: In this scenario, an employee, customer or partner transfers a file that is automatically uploaded into storage or a business system.

With the right MFT solution, organisations can reduce security risks and compliance incidents; thus increasing their efficiency & productivity, and lowering the costs associated with file transfer

How's It Getting There?
Most companies have multiple systems in place to transfer files. Organisations typically do have an approach in place for handling these types of scenarios, but it's often a combination of technology and manual processes - secure or standard email, cloud file share, FTP servers and home grown scripts - that have been cobbled together over time. Email attachments have the advantage of being simple to use and universally available. But they present problems when it comes to security, compliance and control, and can also present problems when it comes to transferring large files.

Cloud file share are similarly easy to use, and becoming more and more popular. They’re typically designed for collaboration, rather than secure file transfer, and may not be well-suited for the transfer of sensitive data that requires management oversight and end-to-end encryption. FTP servers are the granddaddy of file transfer. They're workhorses, but can be cumbersome and lack enterprise-wide management oversight. Relying on FTP can put your files at risk and has lots of hidden costs.

Home grown scripts are also workhorses, but they’re an administrative headache to maintain and consume scarce IT resources to develop. Relying on home grown scripts can be especially problematic when a script’s author leaves the organisation. B2B Integration Platforms manage file exchange among disparate systems, and are well suited for internal process-to- process low-latency transactions. But they’re costly to implement, and adding a new process or integration point can be costly and time-consuming to implement, and impossible when needing to integrate with business partner systems.

EDI/VAN is another data transfer approach, with EDI providing a set of standards, and value-added networks providing an intermediary function between partners in the exchange. Less tightly coupled than a B2B integration platform, EDI/VANs share much of the downside in terms of the difficulty of adding new exchange points, not to mention high on-going fees.

The Problems with this Approach
Existing file transfer methods just aren’t up to the task. While cobbled together systems "worked" in the past, these days, the situation has changed so significantly that organisations can no longer get away with this type of approach to critical file transfers. The less-than-systematic approaches typically share these weaknesses.

MFT - The Right Approach
With the right MFT solution, organisations can reduce security risks and compliance incidents; help increase an organisation’s efficiency and productivity; and lower the costs associated with file transfer. Today, MFT solutions have capabilities that extend beyond traditional FTP systems, providing a single solution that easily handles all your process-to-process, process-to-person, person-to-person, and person-to-process file transfer needs, both internal and external.

Comprehensive MFT solutions can provide the full-range of file transfer capabilities that IT, partners, compliance, security, and end-users require. They simply work with your existing infrastructure to automate, secure, and control all file transfers.