Email the most well-liked approach to sending large files for UK businesses

More than two-thirds of companies continue to take advantage of email as their main solution to send and exchange large files and sensitive data.

A global survey of one,000 IT decision makers by IntraLinks found that sensitive information exchanged beyond the firewall with business partners and customers continues to be primarily conducted through email (68 per cent) and FTP sites (69 per cent).

Talking to SC Magazine, Derek Flynn, managing director and SV-P of EMEA sales at IntraLinks, said users still ought to collaborate with a 3rd party to share information.

“What we do is offer a platform within the cloud, so it's software-as-a-service (SaaS) where you load a document in and it comes with levels of security and with permissions on who can access it and notice who viewed it and when, and forestall them downloading it,” he said.

“This survey shows how important it's to share sensitive information across enterprises and in what way everyone is collaborating with shared sensitive data. Under half (45 per cent) of the respondents have enabled bring your individual device (BYOD), but we focus on BYOC â€" bring your individual collaboration. It's in regards to the right solution that matches the aim for the job and adding some enterprise security into the technology.”

Of those surveyed, 125 were from the united kingdom, 52 per cent of which said that they had "experience issues" sending or exchanging large files, while only 13 per cent used private cloud file-transfer capabilities, and 11 per cent private cloud file storage/sharing sites.

Nearly a 3rd (31 per cent) said they support online file-storage site Dropbox, while 75 per cent supported email.

Flynn said the issue is that the CEO is making the workforce mobile while "giving the CISO one mighty headache". He added: “We are finding an issue of knowledge on devices and organisations are making it a top priority to offer enterprise-class tools for collaboration for staff.”

Fahim Siddiqui, chief product officer at IntraLinks, said: “Success in business has always relied on effective collaboration, but today the character of collaboration is changing.”