Hello and welcome to the channel.  Thanks so much for tuning in.  We are continuing our Notion series by discussing if business owners should use Notion for their business.  I was sold on the Notion application almost immediately.  It has a great many benefits for me.  However, as I thought about putting my whole business on Notion, I paused. 

Why You Should NOT Use NOTION for Business

Notion is one of the best #productivity apps available today. However, there is a problem with the notion (#problemwithnotion) that all Notion users should know about.  Especially, if you want to track your business using Notion.

Notion Security Flaws

Should I be Concerned About Using Notion?

The decision to go all-in on Notion came down to my risk tolerance level.  Do I think Notion will keep my business information private?  Can Notion view my information?  What level of security does the Notion employ?  What information do I feel comfortable placing on Notion? These were some of the questions that ran through my mind. 

Questions to Ask Yourself

Let us first start with “Is notion Safe”? Good question.  To answer this, I went online and read the Terms and Conditions on their website.  The notion does say that they have the right to access our content.  That is troublesome to me in a couple of ways.  What happens if a rogue employee decides to gather information off Notion that may contain sensitive information and sell it to the highest bidder? Or worse, Notion decides that their servers’ information does not meet their policy guidelines and deletes the content?  Also, our users protected from data loss if the servers crash or, worse, are hacked?

Notion Terms and Conditions

Here is an excerpt from Notion’s Terms and Conditions:

Monitoring Content: Although we’re not obligated to monitor access to or use of the Service or Content or to review or edit any Content, we have the right to do so for the purpose of operating the Service, to ensure compliance with these Terms, and to comply with applicable law or other legal requirements. We reserve the right but are not obligated, to remove or disable access to any Content, including User Content, at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, if we, at our sole discretion, consider any Content to be objectionable or in violation of these Terms. We have the right to investigate violations of these Terms or conduct that affects the Services. We may also consult and cooperate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute users who violate the law.

Can I Download My Content?

The notion has stated that you can download your content in either HTML or MARKDOWN.  That is good news.

What Security Does Notion Use?

Next, let us look at Notion’s security. The application uses TLS everywhere and states that the data is encrypted at rest and in transit.  However, the application does not use “end to end encrypted”; therefore, it is not secure.  I am by no means a security expert.  I did watch this excellent video by “harshiber,” and she goes into great detail to explain why Notion is not secure.  Check it out for yourself.

What Content Could I place on this app?

Now after researching this information I am okay placing content on this site? Yes, as long as it is non-sensitive information My to-do lists for example.  Also, my YouTube video production schedule is okay.  I am not okay placing my CRM data on Notion.  Remember earlier I said that each individual needs to determine their own comfort level of risk. I am glad I did not put my checkbook register on the site as well.  To be honest I only have my personal finances on the c drive and do not store them on Google drive.  I only do that while traveling.  Not like I have had an opportunity to travel much lately!  I will be glad when I can do so again.

Summary 

To answer the question can you use this productivity app for your business, yes you can.  However, you may want to limit what you place on this site.  Now Notion is no different than the other online places like Evernote, or OneNote.  One of the reasons the developers have not upgraded the security is that it will impact the speed of the application. Users expect applications to be lightning fast. The more secure the data the slower the application. At some point companies have to make the hard calls and say is this level of security enough in order to keep users happy.

So, what are your thoughts?  Leave your comments down below. For more articles click here.