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While outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant offers many benefits, e-commerce businesses in Phoenix may have concerns regarding company data security. After all, virtual assistants must access the business’s files and intellectual property to offer valuable solutions. So, can you guarantee that data is secure while outsourcing? The short answer is yes.
Are you worried about the data confidentiality of your Phoenix-based e-commerce business? Follow our best practices when hiring a virtual assistant to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits.
This article discusses strategies to guarantee data confidentiality when working with e-commerce virtual assistants in Phoenix. Continue reading to learn valuable insights to ensure a secure and successful outsourcing endeavor.
Ways to Ensure Data Security and Confidentiality When Hiring Virtual Assistants
Data confidentiality is vital for Phoenix-based e-commerce businesses. The risk of leaked, lost, or stolen data is real. In addition to the expenses of mitigating an attack, Arizona also has a Data Breach Notification statute that requires businesses to inform customers of data breaches. Failure to do so will result in a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per affected customer.
Although the benefits of hiring virtual assistants from offshore providers in the Philippines are growing, keeping business data secure is a cause for concern. Entrusting confidential data to someone you do not know is difficult. So, how do you ensure data security and confidentiality with offshore virtual assistants?
Here are some tips to consider to guarantee data security while enjoying the benefits of virtual assistance for e-commerce. Following the best practices below minimizes the risks brought by virtual assistants who can access your corporate data.
Establish Clear Data Security Policies
Most virtual assistants and in-house staff understand the need to care for their employer’s or client’s data. However, you must clearly and precisely establish your expectations to ensure data security.
One way to do this is to publish documented security directives and policies. You must also make these regulations applicable to all employees and service providers who can access your data.
If you already have established guidelines, remember to provide all details to the e-commerce virtual assistants you plan to hire. Alternatively, if you are outsourcing e-commerce services, inform the third-party administrative team about your policies. You can also ask the staffing agency which security measures they follow to ensure data confidentiality.
Set Restricted Permissions on Data Access
Most software tools you use in your operations are built with features to restrict access, such as setting user permissions. You can utilize these capabilities to set specific levels of data access for your offshore e-commerce virtual assistants.
Another way to ensure data confidentiality in your Phoenix-based e-commerce business is to limit your virtual assistants’ access to documents and files using shareable folders. One option is to use tools such as Google Sheets to share spreadsheets, Microsoft Word documents, and any other document your third-party staff needs to work on.
You can add the relevant files in a shareable folder when you want your e-commerce virtual assistants to accomplish tasks. You may then remove them upon completion.
Limiting access is especially crucial if your virtual assistants are working on your e-commerce website. For example, you can set their role as editor and grant them specific privileges. Doing so lets virtual assistants edit and add content, such as blog posts, to your website. However, they cannot configure any admin website functionalities.
Employ Virtual Assistants From Established Providers
Although the market is full of excellent freelance virtual assistants looking for clients, hiring from a reputable staffing agency is best. You can be more confident about data confidentiality and security when you work with an agency that hires virtual assistants and manages them within their offices.
One good reason is that a reliable business process outsourcing (BPO) company will have established data security practices and policies to guard their clients’ data. Moreover, you can rest assured that your e-commerce virtual assistants are working under some physical supervision.
A virtual assistant agency can also provide non-disclosure agreements or standard confidentiality to protect your brand’s intellectual property. The virtual assistant management team and any offshore staff you hire must sign the contract. Most agencies will also be willing to agree with your terms if you prefer to draft your agreements.
Categorize Data and Control Access
Many business owners are uncomfortable giving virtual assistants access to private data such as credit card information and financial accounts. However, if the necessary controls are in place, you may continue to involve virtual assistants in customer order capture, bookkeeping, and bill payments to your vendors, creditors, or suppliers.
That said, you must be diligent with data confidentiality measures to allow virtual assistants access to the financial and account information of your Phoenix-based e-commerce business. You must identify which data is most at risk of compromise.
Consider categorizing your business’s data. Put highly sensitive information, such as credit card details, in the top-most secure category. When you first employ your virtual assistants for e-commerce, only allow them access to information at the lowest security level.
As time passes and deeper trust is instilled between you and your virtual assistants, you may give them access to information at the next security level. Keep doing this until you can fully trust your virtual assistants; only then can you provide them with access to your most confidential data.
Perform Background Checks on Virtual Assistants
In addition to establishing data security protocols, hiring only virtual staff who can pass a background check is critical to ensure data confidentiality in your Phoenix-based e-commerce store. Much like you would do a routine background check for full-time in-house staff, performing such screening for virtual assistants and independent contractors is also vital.
At a minimum, running a criminal background check is recommended after narrowing down your virtual assistant candidates and before you make an offer to your top choice. You can also perform a credit report before finalizing the contract.
You may also tap a virtual assistant agency to save money on background checks but still guarantee high-quality e-commerce customer service outsourcing solutions. Virtual assistant agencies perform thorough background screening during the hiring process.
Importance of Data Confidentiality in the E-commerce Industry
As an online store owner, you must always strive to provide customers with a safe environment on your website. This involves ensuring customers browse, research, purchase, and consume your products or services easily and securely.
Customer data confidentiality makes way for more consumer trust in your business and brand. It allows your company to increase its size and generate higher profits with strong brand recognition and a healthy customer base. Hence, one crucial outsourced customer service tip is always displaying your privacy policy in plain sight.
One of the many benefits of data confidentiality in your Phoenix-based e-commerce shop is that it strengthens your relationship with consumers. Customers tend to be reluctant to share their private data online, so you must secure their information to help them gain faith in your company. This helps develop a long-term and more stable relationship with them.
Customers’ most valuable resource on the web is their personal information, so they are making a vow of confidence when they share it on your website. Misusing data is one of the worst acts an e-commerce shop can do. Failure to handle data properly leads to order cancellations and may even result in legal action being held against your company.
Potential Consequences of Data Breaches
According to a study by IBM, 83% of companies have become victims of at least one data breach. Moreover, the average cost of a data breach in 2022 was $4.35 million. Lastly, it takes companies 287 days to identify and contain a breach.
In Arizona, over 1,000 individuals fell victim to a personal data breach in 2021, leading to reported losses of almost $7.5 million. Many aspects of the business are at risk when a data breach occurs. Here is a closer look at the problems you may encounter.
Negative Brand Reputation
Brand reputation is vital, and you will encounter various issues with customers if you lose it once since they will forever doubt if they can still trust your store. Losing the customers’ business only makes it worse for you and your store, even possibly driving away potential buyers who could have turned to you.
This is why brand reputation is critical and why many businesses spend much time and money working on it. Take yourself as an example. Will you shop at a store you trust or at a new shop you just discovered?
No business can ever buy or sell trust; it is earned through time. Fraud and data breaches can easily take them away. Worst of all, it only requires one data leak to make everything go wrong. Therefore, you must prepare for the worst and hire a trusted virtual assistant.
Lost Customer Trust
If you were a customer, how would you feel if you had your data stolen after a cyberattack? You likely will not feel comfortable buying from the same store again. Customer trust is important; you may never get it back after losing it.
You will feel more comfortable buying from an online store or marketplace that you can trust. As an online store owner, you must report the breach directly to relevant parties who can instantly address and resolve the issue. Should a breach occur, handling it quickly helps keep your customer’s trust.
You can avoid data breaches and other security issues altogether by following the best practices when hiring e-commerce virtual assistants. Consider the principles of customer-centric outsourcing to ensure data confidentiality in your Phoenix-based e-commerce store.
Expensive Financial Costs
Data breaches can immediately hurt your budget. Bad actors will steal whatever they can when they access your data. However, you can minimize the financial damage by addressing the issue faster. Here are the costs that you must consider when addressing a breach:
- Cost of patching system vulnerability
- Expenses related to litigation
- Cost of compensating technicians
The financial impact of data breaches is more damaging when you are unprepared for an attack. So, ensure data confidentiality in your Phoenix-based e-commerce store by hiring experienced virtual assistants from a reputable agency.
The Bottom Line
It only takes one data leak for you to pay expensive fines, ruin your brand reputation, and lose customers’ trust in your e-commerce store. Hence, you must keep your eyes open and prepare for any attack.
Only work with trusted virtual assistant agencies in Phoenix and hire competent offshore staff to prevent security issues. Follow the best practices by establishing clear data policies, conducting rigorous background checks, and choosing a reputable service provider.
If your internal team and third-party assistants are careful about information handling, both your business and customers are at ease. After all, no customer wants to put their data at risk. Let’s connect for professional support in ensuring data security.
