The final challenge is ensuring you retain control and ownership of your data and files.
The core question to ask is where are the actual servers which hold your materials? You need to know if they meet your required data security standards and if they are resourced for your needs (capacity, up-time, access).
There are a number of excellent, audited and high standard hosting organisations, such as Amazon AWS, who are suitable partners. However, there are many more which do not meet the standards a pharmaceutical company must meet, which can leave you open to serious compliance risks.
Another key factor is understanding who “owns” data once it is uploaded to the service.
You have to carefully examine any cloud-based file sharing system.
A free system almost always means you lose absolute control of anything you upload to it. If you’re using a paid service, you must also fully understand ownership and legal entity location before engaging their services.
Remember – you are ultimately responsible for maintaining control of your data!
