In March 2021, Chinese hackers broke into Microsoft Exchange Server and stole emails from over 250,000 customers worldwide. This raises two questions: How do you stop these attacks from happening? How do you find out what data is affected and what damage has been done? Today’s information security is the combination of cybersecurity, information governance, risk management, and information assurance that can address these issues. This blog concentrates on the role of information assurance and its integration into the world of security.

The increase in criminal activity during the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the imperative for cyber resilience within every business. Working from the point of view that a data breach is inevitable at some point, the question becomes how you respond, remediate and recover your business. This means moving beyond the technical aspects to consider the things that are most important: your data.

How do you protect and defend information inside your enterprise and, increasingly, in external data sources that you may have some responsibility for?

The answer is information assurance. A technology that begun life within legal firms and the legal departments of companies is now broadening out as all organizations are dealing with an ever-increasing volume and variety of data, with greater controls and regulations on what they are permitted to do with that data. Handling regulatory enquires and enhancing data protection and data management have become key focus areas for information assurance solutions in enterprises worldwide.

Why you need information assurance

Organizations want to tap into the huge potential of this data to improve business performance and customer experience. At the same time, people are becoming more digital savvy and governments more protective of the individual’s privacy and personal information.

At the same time, some things haven’t changed. They have just accelerated. Whether accidental or malicious, employees misuse data and cybercriminals are definitely malicious when they target your business with more sophisticated hacks and attacks.

Information assurance has become vital to protect the information within your organization to ensure its integrity and quality in a way that builds trust and reduces risk. Today, information assurance solutions have moved beyond the ability to protect information systems. Information assurance professionals are now equally concerned with data privacy, regulatory inquiries, and standards compliance.

Any information assurance risk assessment will seek a balance between protecting information and providing effective access to information. For example, during a merger or acquisition, there will be a period of due diligence where each party gathers data to identify potential risk. Vast amounts of information have to be analyzed in a timely manner, while sensitive data such as intellectual property still has to be protected. Without modern information assurance solutions that can automate much of the data discovery process, this simply would not be possible.

https://blogs.opentext.com/information-assurance-and-security/

Is your organization lacking the kind of digital agility required to effectively respond to the new rapid pace of business? Are you still relying on code-heavy applications, manual processes, and siloed data?

If so, changing that could require heavy financial investment, months or years of waiting, and enterprise-wide change management. With no guarantee, you’ll end up where you need to be. The events of 2020 further compounded these challenges. The digital transformation had been well underway, but 2020 really pushed the accelerator to the floor and created a whole new pace of business.

How can you keep up?

A key benefit of low code = SPEED 

A new tool, referred to as low-code application development, has made a timely entrance onto the scene. At its most basic level, low code is an approach to application development that leverages platform-based visual design elements — such as drop-down menus and checkboxes — to quickly and easily develop, change, and deliver business applications with minimal to no hand-coding.

This powerful capability is allowing organizations to circumvent lengthy development cycles and rigid legacy systems to rapidly stand up new business applications that meet immediate business needs.

Low-code development offers several benefits, but perhaps most importantly, it brings an element of speed that organizations today desperately need to succeed at the new pace of business. This type of technology enables rapid application development that, as the name implies, provides an ability to rapidly develop new solutions.

Overcoming the buy vs. build dilemma

Buying something off the shelf can be quicker, but it will also be expensive and likely will not be a perfect fit. Building something internally will likely provide a more perfect fit, but will take more time and command valuable IT resources.

Low code introduces a new alternative that allows you to maximize ROI from your existing tech stack. It offers the ability to squeeze even more value from existing solutions. With low-code applications, you create powerful data relationships from internal and external sources, centralize that information, and provide an ability for users to take action on it. You also leverage your existing technology solutions to bring data together and stand up for new applications that put the right information in front of the right people at the right time.

By optimizing the user experience, you increase user adoption. And the more people use the solution, the more effective they are at their jobs, the more you maximize your ROI.

Leveraging low code alongside core systems

A critical component to low-code integration is the ability of your app-building platform to access and use all the latest data and content from your entire content and application universe.

The best low-code strategy is one that integrates your organization’s critical content repositories with your applications and line-of-business systems — complementing those systems and maximizing your investments. Content and documents are often the most pervasive and challenging-to-manage elements across business units, which makes a content services platform ideal for launching effective applications.

https://blog.hyland.com/digital-transformation/why-low-code-is-becoming-the-digital-transformation-mvp/