It’s no secret that in the last few years the property industry has seen a great shift toward digitisation - all of which wouldn’t be possible without advancements and innovations in prop tech. And while these innovations have enhanced convenience and efficiency for property professionals across the industry, it’s also incredibly important to remember that with these changes comes an increasing need for robust data security measures.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at the top reasons data security is important when using prop tech, the risks you could be taking if you’re not up to scratch on keeping your data secure, and how LandTech’s approach to security can take on the heavy lifting for you.
The importance of data security in prop tech
While working in the property industry, you may be handling a lot of sensitive data that is important to both you and your clients. From data on your business’s opportunities to your workflows and daily communications, the daily operations as a property professional requires the storing of a lot of crucial information to keep your business running.
That’s why security in property software is crucial for protecting sensitive information. So, let’s take a deeper dive into the top three reasons data security is especially important in prop tech.
Protecting sensitive information
As we’ve stated previously, your business’s data and workflows are crucial to your success, and should be handled with the utmost security. From potential development opportunities to financial details, a lot of your most important information sits within the prop tech tools you use everyday.
Breaches in security can lead to unauthorised access, compromising the confidentiality of this information - leaving your business exposed and at risk both operationally and financially.
For example, from an operational standpoint, security lapses can disrupt day-to-day operations, causing downtime and affecting business continuity. This, in turn, can lead to dissatisfaction on your end and further disruptions to your clients and projects. Data breaches can also result in financial losses due to legal consequences, compensation claims, and damage to the company's reputation.
So, just like you mitigate risk at every stage of your opportunity pipeline, you should also be taking the same approach when it comes to protecting your business from security compromises.
Compliance with industry standards
Running a business in the property sector, be it as an estate agent, surveyor or developer entails dealing with a lot of personal data. To successfully run your business in the current market you simply need to collect, use and store personal data (names, emails, contact details, etc). It’s the nature of the business.
So, whether you’re using something like Excel to track your opportunities or a prop tech tool, the information you collect and store to keep your operations running needs to be protected and in line with legal compliance.
One aspect to consider is GDPR and how that affects your business operations. Ensuring you’re obtaining and storing contact information correctly could be the difference between business as usual or facing fines up to €20 Million, or 4% of annual revenue, whichever is higher. This is serious stuff.
A perfect example of how this impacts property professionals is letter sending. Whether you’re sending a few letters or hundreds, you need to have legitimate business interest to contact property owners, ensuring you’re clear on what grounds you are sending those letters and conduct appropriate assessments. Since it is near impossible to get consent in these situations, you must have other legal grounding for storing and processing their personal information.
When you’re using a tool like Excel, for example, you could be exposing all of that personal information to a security breach. But if you choose to use a prop tech tool to assist you in letter sending, ensure you’re choosing one like LandInsight that takes on the heavy lifting of data security for you by working with accredited partners that have SOC2 accreditation.
You can learn more about LandInsight’s integrated letter sending and approach to security here.
Building trust with your clients
The handling of sensitive personal data and ensuring you’re in line with regulatory and legal compliance can add an extra layer of trust with your clients. But, if you’re not taking these proactive measures to keep your clients’ data secure, you could be opening yourself up to more than just operational and financial risks - you could be putting yourself at a massive disadvantage in a very competitive market.
In an industry where trust is paramount, a reputation for lax security can significantly undermine a company's competitive edge. Clients are more likely to choose services that prioritise the safety of their data. If you can ensure your clients that their data is in safe hands, your credibility within the marketplace will continue to grow.
Overall, demonstrating a proactive approach to data security reassures not only you, but also your clients that their information is handled responsibly, ensuring that both parties are covered from potential financial, operational and credibility risks.
The simple step toward enhanced security
Now that you’re fully aware of the importance of data security in the property industry, you may be asking yourself how you can ensure you’re protecting your business and your clients.
There’s a simple solution here - choose a prop tech solution that takes your security seriously. We know there are a lot of options in the market to help property professionals run their daily operations more efficiently, but ensuring you’re choosing a tool that puts security at the forefront can be the difference between a successful business and a business that lands in legal hot water.
At LandTech, we take multiple measures to ensure our users are safe from any potential data breaches. Below, we’ll take a look at how we do just that.
Industry-leading security compliance
It’s one thing to tell you that your data is safe within another company’s software, but it's another to prove it with industry standard compliance. LandTech was the first site sourcing tool to obtain ISO 27001 accreditation - an industry-leading compliance standard - back in 2019 and we’ve maintained the accreditation since then.
The process of obtaining ISO 27001 accreditation isn’t as simple as a few audits here and there. It requires a business to thoroughly assess its information security risks, including vulnerabilities and threats from people, processes and technology.
This ultimately leads to better risk management and mitigation strategies, reducing the likelihood of data breaches. And with this sort of security in place, you can have peace of mind that your valuable data is protected from any sort of threats that could arise.
Multi-factor authentication
You’ve had a glance at how our main approach to security can protect you, but we don’t stop at just ISO 27001 accreditation. We've implemented an additional layer of security through our authenticator app. This extra measure significantly enhances the overall security of your property data.
Here’s how and why the authentication app makes the difference in keeping your data safe:
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA):
- The authenticator app adds a crucial layer of 2FA, requiring not only a password to login, but also a unique code generated on your device. This significantly reduces the risk of unauthorised access.
Securing login credentials:
- With the authenticator app, even if login credentials are compromised, unauthorised access is thwarted without the additional code generated by the app.
User-friendly security:
- While it may take a few extra seconds, the authenticator app ensures that the security process is user-friendly without sacrificing the integrity of your data.
Play it safe with data security
In the dynamic landscape of property software, the significance of data security cannot be overstated. This is why it is crucial that when choosing a prop tech software, you’re fully aware of the cost in not fully protecting your valuable data.
At LandTech, we believe in taking on most of the heavy lifting for our users by maintaining our ISO 27001 accreditation and working with accredited partners. But we also believe that by adding an additional layer of security through MFA, your data security is iron clad.
This additional security step is a small price to pay for the peace of mind that your property data is shielded from potential threats. By embracing these security measures, we collectively contribute to creating a safer and more resilient property software industry.