As a result of flexible smart working practices, working fixed hours in an office, at an allocated desk is a thing of the past for many employees. Organizations from almost every sector appear to be more open to flexible working arrangements and increasingly encouraging working from home as standard practice. Recent industry figures indicate that 96% of enterprises and 52% of SMBs have employees regularly working remotely.

While this brings many positive benefits to both organizations and employees, it does put employers at greater risk of data breaches caused mostly by human error. In fact in a recent survey half of all respondents stated that employees had put data at risk by:

  1. Printing documents containing sensitive data via a third party printer (e.g. hotel business centre)
  2. Losing documents outside the office
  3. Loss or theft of mobile phones and/or company laptops while away from the office

Under GDPR, organizations are required to have relevant safeguards and policies in place that protect sensitive data both in and out of any workplace.  While 75% of larger organizations confirmed the existence of corporate policies for employees storing, handling and disposing of sensitive data off-site, nearly a quarter of these organizations felt that not all employees would be aware of these policies. In addition, 25% of larger organizations admit to having no policies in place for this at all. SMB’s however, fare worse with over 50% confirming that no policy exists.

As the workforce becomes more mobile, it is important for organizations to understand their data compliance obligations in order to implement appropriate measures that take into account remote working practices. Of equal importance, is the need to ensure ALL employees are fully aware of the policies and their obligations to protect any data they may handle.

For more information on how organizations can ensure their print and document management processes support the GDPR requirements, please download the IDC report on Meeting Data Privacy Compliance.


70% Increase in Healthcare Data Breaches