Over the weekend I read an article posted on Infosec Island titled “Putting an End to Data Breaches as We Know Them” by Robert Siciliano. Having read the article and the comments I came to the conclusion that even information or data security experts do not fully understand what enterprise rights management is.

So here is the underlying problem; if IT security experts do not understand the full capabilities of enterprise rights management, how can they effectively communicate the benefits or shortcomings to their employers or clients? For me the article on Infosec Island revolves around whether ZafeSoft is enterprise rights management or not.

Even though throughout the website the phrase ‘enterprise rights management’ or ‘information rights management’ is not used, the writer deemed it to be superior to “other” enterprise rights management solutions out there. On the other hand having read through the ZafeSoft website and the features of their products I came to the conclusion that ZafeSoft is enterprise rights management.

Contrary to the comments made following this article, there is nothing in ZafeSoft’s product attributes that has not been attributes of many other similar solutions in the marketplace. This is a challenge that one continues to come up against in one form or the other.

There is a lack of in-depth understanding of what enterprise rights management is from information security industry and this is communicated wrongly to organizations that could benefit from this tool if sufficient research is carried out. Maybe software vendors in this area need to do more to educate businesses and government what enterprise rights management is capable of doing.

Enterprise rights management is going through a stage of rapid innovation and software vendors are working hard at making their tools less disruptive that it impacts productivity. Enterprise rights management today is still being judged on what it looked like 5, 6 or 7 years ago, but the truth of the matter is that it has moved on leaps and bounds.

Questions need to be asked why companies like Pfizer, Samsung and Intel just to name a few have invested heavily on this technology if it is so hard to implement, surely if it is going to impact productivity these companies will steer clear of it? A second opinion on whether enterprise rights management is a tool that will help protect an organization’s IP or confidential data is highly recommended and especially from someone who understands what the software does.