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How a CRM Can Help You Maintain Data Security

As technology continues to evolve, the number of data security incidents increases. For the charity sector, the news is not good. Data security incidents have increased more than double year on year. According to information released by the Commissioner’s Office, there were 29 data security incidents reported between April and June of this year. In 2015 during the same period however, only 11 incidents were reported.

It’s a fact that no organisation is immune to data security threats. Fortunately, charities that have a fundraising CRM in place have an easy means of maintaining their data security. If you’ve been considering implementing a CRM for your organisation or upgrading your current CRM, you’ll find many helpful features that can keep your charity’s information safe.

Multiple Access Levels

CRMs allow for better collaboration across departments, as well as the ability for your employees to work from anywhere. This makes it especially necessary to have a solution in place to ensure data security. This is most efficiently done by setting access levels for individuals. Password-protected, these access levels allow each employee to complete their tasks and eliminates the possibility of sensitive information being shared inadvertently.

Information Transparency

An organisation can have multiple types of information stored in various areas by any number of departments. These multiple copies of contact, financial, campaign and other information are a security threat themselves, because thousands of files could exist on several computers and mobile devices. If stolen or transferred out of the organisation, these devices and the information they hold can pose a significant threat to the privacy of your donors, volunteers and employees.

A CRM centralises information in such a way as to merge and migrate it to a central database from which all individuals within an organisation can draw. Having this information in a single, protected location makes it far less likely that security will be compromised.

Protection of Donor Preference and Privacy

A CRM having the capability to track every donor interaction with your charity can offer those donors a high level of security. When signing up to a charity newsletter, for example, a donor can enter their contact frequency preferences, which are then recorded in the CRM. This allows a charity the ability to protect donor information, while eliminating the possibility of unwanted contact. Modern CRMs feature a protected donor database, which all departments can view and modify at predefined access levels.

Professional Training and Support

Inadequate training can result in the unintentional leakage of data. Similarly, lack of support can leave an organisation guessing as to what can be done when something goes awry with their software. Many modern CRMs offer on-going support contracts via a number of contact options. In understanding how the CRM works and learning how to handle issues when they arise, an organisation can have the upper hand and be able to prevent security breaches before they occur.

The people who work for your organisation and use its charity CRM software on a regular basis can become its front line for data security. The more they know about your CRM and the more often their training is updated, the better equipped they will be to defend your charity against data theft.