"Researchers are sending us potentially groundbreaking information that's never been seen before, so they have to feel they can trust us to handle their data confidentially. It's not about quantity or file size, it's about security, sensitivity, and confidentiality."
- Matthew Levine, Director of Communications
Intro
Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) is the leading funder of eye research that contributes to the treatment, prevention and care of all eye diseases. They contribute millions of dollars each year to groundbreaking medical research, as well as make information about eye diseases available to the public, for free.
The Challenge
The organization originally used email to receive large files from current and potential grantees. After a change in their system, they were unable to receive the large attachments they needed, so they moved their grant application upload to a cloud-based storage solution. This allowed them the freedom to store what they needed, but caused other problems.
Above all, they needed to be certain that the data they received maintained integrity and was not able to be manipulated after they received it. Part of their process involved requesting changes to documents, and maintaining separate versions of the documents in order to track changes was cumbersome.
The major impetus for another change was that many of the schools and major medical institutions they communicated with were prohibited from using the cloud solution they'd chosen due to network security concerns. Any new solution needed to be easy to use, but more importantly, it needed to be secure enough for medical and educational institutions.
The Solution
RPB's IT department vetted 3-4 different solutions, but ultimately SendThisFile's secure Enterprise edition won them over. As a foundation that provides funding to medical organizations, RPB isn't required to comply with HIPAA regulations, but providing a solution that protects their grantees' valuable data is of utmost importance. Grant applications have the potential to contain data that could represent a researchers life's work. "We changed file transfer providers not because of the quantity of files we receive, but to maintain the security of the content that is transferred. Researchers are sending us potentially groundbreaking information that's never been seen before, so they have to feel they can trust us to handle their data confidentially. It's not about quantity or file size, it's about security, sensitivity and confidentiality," said Matthew Levine, RPB's Director of Communications.
The Results
In a password protected area of the website specifically for grantees, RPB now has customized upload forms that allow organizations to securely send RPB their applications for funding and year-end reports of activities. End users - applicants and grantees - can trust that the data they send complies with their organization's safety standards in its online journey to RPB.
