How to choose a SaaS secure file transfer service for your business

Words By John V.
Learn how to choose a secure cloud file sharing solution built for enterprise needs. Discover features, evaluation criteria and red flags to avoid when selecting SaaS MFT tools.
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Enterprise organizations must streamline how they share content and protect sensitive files. Old file transfer systems cannot keep up with new demands, including stricter regulations, greater uptime and global access. Many organizations are now moving to secure file transfer solutions in the cloud. This shift is growing in industries like healthcare, finance and government, which rely on strong file security and system availability.

Managed file transfer as a service (MFTaaS or SaaS MFT) helps enterprises meet these needs by providing secure file transfers within cloud infrastructure. These tools use encryption and multifactor authentication and support many file transfer protocols. This reduces the burden on IT teams by allowing them to focus on more strategic initiatives. Enterprise-grade SaaS MFT platforms like JSCAPE by Redwood integrate seamlessly with your existing technology stack, automate complex tasks and simplify compliance updates to ensure your file sharing needs run smoothly and predictably. Learn more about the required capabilities – and red flags – that enterprise organizations should look for when evaluating a SaaS secure file transfer solution.

What is secure cloud file sharing?

Secure cloud file sharing empowers enterprises to store and send files through cloud systems. Unlike consumer-grade apps, secure cloud file-sharing systems like SaaS MFT provide comprehensive security features that block unauthorized access and protect sensitive data. End-to-end encryption safeguards files both in transit and at rest to prevent unauthorized access. Furthermore, IT administrators can implement granular role-based access control rules, which dictate precisely who can view or edit different types of files to reduce risk. Every file movement is logged, providing comprehensive audit trails that detail how files are shared or accessed, which is vital for compliance purposes. Given the stringent data exchange rules and increasing regulatory scrutiny, many enterprises are strategically moving beyond traditional on-premises tools and are leveraging SaaS MFT tools and cloud storage solutions to securely share data, support their daily operations and ensure rapid, compliant file exchange.

Choosing a SaaS secure file transfer tool

For enterprises seeking to optimize their secure file sharing, SaaS MFT solutions offer significant advantages. These services enable rapid deployment without the need for additional hardware, and crucially, they can dynamically scale alongside your organization to simplify transfers of large files. This agility supports remote workforces and enables strategic digital expansion initiatives across the enterprise.

Understanding your diverse file transfer workflows is a critical step in selecting the best solution for your enterprise organization. Whether you're using high-volume automated system-to-system transfers or ad hoc sharing of sensitive documents, the chosen SaaS MFT solution must align with these use cases to prevent middleware and workarounds.

As enterprises increasingly share sensitive data, ensuring its security both at rest and in transfer is paramount. Cloud transfer platforms are built to deliver robust data protection to support adherence to critical compliance mandates such as SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and FIPS 140-3. Secure file transfer tools within SaaS MFT provide end-to-end encryption, access controls and detailed audit trails that enable comprehensive data movement tracking.

Selecting a SaaS MFT solution is a strategic move toward a more efficient and resilient file sharing process. The optimal solution will comprehensively protect sensitive data, simplify transfers for your enterprise and significantly reduce ongoing IT maintenance. Thoroughly testing various options and gathering input from both IT administrators and daily users is crucial to identify the most effective secure file transfer solution for your organization's unique requirements.

Must-have features

To support secure, scalable file transfers, a SaaS MFT solution should include baseline capabilities that address performance, control and compliance. These features form the foundation of enterprise readiness and long-term operational fit.

Features you should look for in your SaaS MFT solution include:

  • Activity logging and audit trails
  • End-to-end encryption
  • High availability and load balancing
  • Native integration support for secure file storage and SSO/SAML
  • Role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Support for compliance mandates, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX, etc.
  • Support for protocols, including SFTP, FTPS, AS2, HTTPS and more

Without these core elements, secure file transfer solutions often require costly add-ons or manual workarounds. Use these key features as a litmus test when comparing service providers.

Evaluation criteria

In addition to including comprehensive features, selecting the right SaaS file transfer solution means assessing its security, manageability and support structure. These criteria determine whether the platform fits your enterprise’s operational and compliance needs.

Evaluate:

  • Deployment options, such as public cloud, hybrid or private SaaS
  • Ease of administration, including its UI, access control permissions and policy enforcement
  • Pricing, whether it’s consumption-based, a flat fee or another setup
    • Important note: Be wary of variable pricing models or those that require you to estimate your usage. These pricing models can make it challenging to forecast your IT operational spend and may result in unanticipated overages.
  • Security certifications and attestations like SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001
    • Enterprise organizations should request a trust package from the vendor to fully evaluate its security posture.
  • Vendor support channels, hours and ticket SLAs
    • Pay close attention to first-response times for priority-1 issues and recent customer reviews to ensure the platform can meet your needs in real time, especially if your organization is in a highly-regulated industry like healthcare or finance.

Weigh these factors during the procurement process to avoid surprises post-deployment and ensure that the secure file transfer software aligns with your organization’s IT and data exchange strategies.

Red flags to avoid

Not all MFTaaS solutions marketed to enterprises possess the maturity, transparency and architectural robustness required for secure and reliable file transfers at scale, especially when transferring high volumes of sensitive data. For multi-billion dollar organizations, overlooking these red flags can lead to significant financial risk, operational disruption and compliance failures.

Watch for these critical warning signs before committing to a secure file transfer tool:

  • Complex architecture requirements involving multiple tools
  • Incomplete documentation
  • Lack of cloud backup capabilities
  • Lack of third-party audits or trust package
  • Limited protocol support (e.g., missing AS2, OFTP2, WebDAV, etc.)
  • No user access control granularity
  • Priority-1 first-response greater than one hour
  • Uptime percentage under 99%

Spotting these gaps early can save your organization time, money and risk exposure — especially when transferring regulated or sensitive data.

Considerations

Before finalizing your choice of a secure file transfer solution, enterprises should critically assess how it addresses core enterprise requirements for encryption, compliance and system integration, especially across hybrid environments. Ensure the vendor implements robust end-to-end encryption for files both during transfer and in storage. Verify its ability to meet key compliance mandates relevant to your organization, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX and GDPR, which is paramount for handling sensitive or regulated enterprise data.

Automation capabilities are equally vital for enterprise efficiency, and the platform should support scheduled and event-driven transfers, seamlessly integrating with your existing systems through comprehensive API support, file transfer agents or direct connectors. A thorough review of the vendor’s support model is also critical; look for clear uptime guarantees and a proven track record of fast issue resolution, as this directly impacts operational stability. Finally, if your enterprise environment requires tenant isolation, confirm the MFTaaS platform provides strict controls for separating users or business units, especially in shared workspaces or when enforcing access expiration dates on files.

Common use cases

For multi-billion dollar enterprises, secure file transfer spans across a wide range of departments and critical business functions. A robust MFTaaS solution must be versatile enough to support both complex automated system-level workflows and agile, ad-hoc file sharing initiated by various business units. IT teams frequently leverage these platforms to facilitate secure exchange with third-party cloud storage services’ data centers and enable automated reporting tasks.

Internally, departments such as HR, legal and finance consistently require mechanisms to securely share sensitive documents on demand, without compromising internal governance policies. Understanding these diverse use cases is key to identifying gaps in existing processes and validating whether a solution meets both technical requirements and broader business objectives.

Some ways to use MFTaaS for secure file transfers include:

  • Automated data consolidation and reporting: Reliably move high-volume financial, operational or customer data for consolidation, audit and regulatory reporting to apply encryption and access limits and protect against unauthorized access.
  • Large-scale data ingestion and distribution: Automate the high-speed, high-volume ingestion and distribution of vast datasets (e.g., genomic data, market data) into internal systems or cloud storage for analysis and research, with high availability ensuring no-lag recovery.
  • Operational technology (OT) data integration: Securely extract and unify data from disparate OT systems with IT environments for predictive analysis or software updates, while maintaining network segmentation and encryption.
  • Sensitive document exchange and collaboration: Securely share highly sensitive case files, contracts, intellectual property or R&D data for collaboration to ensure end-to-end encryption, role-based access control, and auditable logging.

When evaluating an MFTaaS tool, consider your enterprise’s operational needs to confirm the platform can support your file transfer workflows.

JSCAPE: The right partner for secure file transfers

Enterprises consistently require a superior approach to data transfer and secure file transfer, as consumer-grade tools are fundamentally inadequate for the stringent demands of global operations, regulatory mandates and growing ransomware threats. JSCAPE provides a purpose-built managed file transfer platform for enterprises. It offers unparalleled flexibility that’s deployable across diverse operating systems including Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux/Unix. JSCAPE ensures secure file exchange across numerous systems and supports a wide array of protocols like SFTP, FTPS, HTTPS, AS2 and OFTP2, as well as REST APIs, eliminating interoperability challenges.

JSCAPE equips your organization with robust security features that enable comprehensive tracking of file transfer activity and granular access control. Its low-code/no-code automation workflows empower your IT teams to build complex processes without extensive scripting, which drives significant efficiencies and reduces human error. JSCAPE’s ability to integrate with other systems that are all managed from a centralized user interface simplifies oversight and reduces operational complexity.

With standardized pricing and an award-winning support team, you can trust JSCAPE SaaS to maintain your file transfer operations without cutting into your bottom line.

Looking to evaluate a secure, enterprise-grade SaaS MFT platform? Schedule a demo to explore a file transfer solution purpose-built for compliance, automation and scalability.