Royal FloraHolland (RFH) recently announced the findings from its annual IT audit. The audit, conducted by IT audit and consultancy firm Noordbeek, confirms that RFH has put in place effective management measures to ensure the confidentiality of 'strictly confidential data' on the Floriday digital platform and to comply with the principle that data be untraceable, as set out in RFH's Data Policy.
André van der Linden, CIO at Royal FloraHolland, says: "The audit once again established that strictly confidential data is not shared outside Floriday, and is only accessible to a limited group of Floriday support staff who need it for their work. Growers and buyers could already rely on their data being processed confidentially, and this has been confirmed yet again this year."
Additional testing on Exporter module and Floriday Messenger
According to Floriday, the audits from 2021 to 2023 had previously confirmed the effectiveness of the measures taken to ensure the confidential nature of Floriday users' data. This was examined again in the 2024 audit. This year, end-customer references in the Exporter module, the newly developed Floriday Messenger, and contracts were also tested for this. Specifically, strictly confidential data was checked (such as contact details, call-off contracts, sticker price and end-customer data).
Data committee grows to reflect recent developments
The data committee, set up to consider and evaluate Royal FloraHolland's Data Policy, commissioned this fourth audit. Erik Beulen, data expert and professor at the University of Manchester, who sits on the data committee, said: "In recent years, the data committee has grown to reflect developments within Floriday. We have spent the past year reflecting on the opportunities and risks of implementing AI. This innovative technology affects us all, but it could of course potentially impact future data policies overseen by the data committee. We will continue to monitor this and other innovations closely over the coming years, to ensure that data confidentiality is guaranteed while everyone involved can still benefit from the use of new technology."
What can you do yourself when it comes to processing data securely?
"Grower and buyer organizations are getting bigger, and more and more employees are working together on Floriday for optimum sales and purchase of flowers and plants. This also carries risks. Twice a year, we ask administrators (main users) on Floriday to check the roles and permissions for any employees who use Floriday. You should check regularly that all employees still have the correct roles and access rights on the platform."
For more information:
Floriday
www.Floriday.io