Why should you secure an ERP's financial data, and how ?

Securing a business, company or organization’s ERP data has become essential, now more than ever. It can, however, be quite difficult to achieve the perfect balance between security and accessibility. So what challenges does this security face and what is its importance in the Cloud? What solutions does Gestisoft offer? This article will provide you with all the answers you need.

It is crucial to secure a company’s ERP data

Digitalization is a phenomenon that does not pass by any sector. Therefore, the solutions used in storing sensitive information are crucial for the professionals of today.

Secure critical resources

No professional should find this surprising: compliance with all the requirements of the current market is an invariable and crucial condition for maximizing the results of a company. Therefore, the sensitive data of a business, company or organization is to be processed and accessed with utmost care. Protecting this information thus becomes an inevitable need when integrating with any operational solution.

Reassure the customers

When your ERP data is secure, it also reassures your customers, as confidentiality has become a pressing issue for many Internet users today. The presentation of internal security-related solutions is often seen as an important commercial argument, in addition to an appropriate policy regarding the storage of personal data.

Interoperability as a synonym for performance

Interoperability of multiple applications is synonymous with a higher level of security. As such, it will be essential to use protocols recognized for their reliability in order to avoid certain complicated situations like getting hacked.

Facing increasingly aggressive competition

Any business, company or organization places great importance in competitiveness. In this regard, securing an ERP system drastically reduces the time required to develop dedicated customer support. However, delayed deployment of solutions incurs additional costs. Similarly, in the event of a sensitive data leak, you will most likely suffer financial consequences, such as legal costs.

Imposed compliance in Europe

Several regulations imposed by the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) affect European countries. For companies in France, Belgium or other neighboring countries, compliance is therefore essential. Failure to do so can result in heavy penalties.

The importance of securing ERP data in the Cloud

Cybersecurity concerns more than just so-called internal storage methods. Naturally, hackers specifically target these professional networks, and, despite some reassuring arguments, the security of online storage in the Cloud can also be compromised as a result of negligence.

Given these statements, how can one secure an ERP on an online storage space? Unsurprisingly, it is paramount to choose a reliable and reassuring service in this case. For example, Microsoft Azure stands out for its attractive features, such as:

• The adherence to various compliance standards
• The application of reassuring security policies
• An open-source infrastructure with personalized services
• Permanently serviced by a team of 3,500 cybersecurity experts

For instance, companies like Asos, McKesson and Daimler use Microsoft Azure. These world-class organizations will certainly reassure other professionals who want to secure Business Central information.

Secure your ERP data with Gestisoft

Gestisoft’s main goal is to meet the needs of its clientele, which can vary according to size, area of activity or even complexity. We offer solutions that make it easy to restrict access to financial information, as a way of satisfying as many clients possible.

Access rights management

Undoubtedly, the software Business Central is a great solution for centralizing your information. However, you must take care to manage access rights in order to maximize your ERP system’s efficiency without compromising the confidentiality of sensitive data. What permissions does Team A have? Do you need to define special permissions for Team B? Every business, company or organization will have their own requirements for personalization in order to keep the ERP secure.

Set personalized security for each user (User-defined Security)

Securing your ERP data is primarily about defining personalized access rights for each user. As such, it is absolutely essential to be able to authorize or deny the reading/modification of sensitive data like account charts, ledger entries, analysis tables, etc.

Initially, however, Business Central provides each user with a set of “D365 BASIC” permissions. This allows access to all pages, reports, and code units created by your application. It would thus be impossible to manually take out any page that features sensitive financial data.

The different role types of Business Central

As a reminder, Business Central takes into account different security roles to allow or prevent access to particular information. A manager would thus be perfectly equipped to create or change these roles. If you would like to learn more about the different security roles and permissions in Microsoft Dynamics, we invite you to read our article “What are the different types of security roles in Dynamics 365?”

Training by Gestisoft

Gestisoft offers continuous training after the implementation of your ERP system. This theoretical support will of course take into account the security of your data (creation of roles, definition of authorizations or restrictions, etc.) Gestisoft also regularly streams webinars to help improve our clients’ knowledge. These live broadcasts allow you to find answers to any of your questions, thanks to our team’s expertise.

Extensions

Gestisoft offers extensions to help secure your ERP data, on top of our training. The rest of this article summarizes various information presented by Dynamics 365 Business Central Implementation Consultant, David Récolet.

“Gestisoft provides you with an extension that allows you to quickly and easily remove access to one or more pages with just a few lines of code. It automatically returns a message that can specify any type of information, in particular, the pages that the user is not authorized to access.

In practice, this allows you to define an authorization or restriction associated with a specific user group.

You can use this diagram to understand how this extension works:

1. You want to assign an empty user group (with no set permissions) to a particular user.
2. This user group is associated with a formula (defined by several lines of implemented code). Then an access restriction is applied to one or more desired tables.
3. When a user wants to open a table, the system analyzes the implemented code to check the granted access rights.

Obviously, these settings cannot be changed by the same user group, even if it knows where to set them.

Gestisoft also provides you with the Advanced Cloud Security App (developed by our partner E Focus). This app, available on AppSource, allows you to configure pages, fields or filters to define their visibility. This extension also lets you assign specific configurations based on a user group or a set of permissions.”

In conclusion

If you would like to avoid certain complex scenarios or optimize your results, it is essential to secure your ERP data. However, without specific training or information, this process may seem quite complex. Regardless of your company’s profile, Gestisoft will accompany you to make sure that your sensitive data is effectively protected. Many businesses, companies and organizations already recognize the expertise of our team, whether it is through theoretical training, webinars or face-to-face consultations.

If you wish to learn more about our services, please do not hesitate to contact us through our website; we will get back to you as soon as possible!