Are Your Digital Documents Secure?

Paper-based document storage either in on-site file cabinets and bankers boxes or off-site storage should really be a thing of the past. Paper document storage can be a challenge for users to find and access the documents they need. Additionally, with the increasing move to employees who are working remotely and can do business with a laptop and a cell phone, paper document storage makes productivity impossible. In addition, there is risk associated with maintaining only paper copies of essential documents – both damage and security risks. Transitioning to digital documents is a good option to combat these challenges.

When an organization is looking to reduce the use and storage of paper (go paperless), it is important to work closely with managed print services experts to ensure that the printing and imaging environment is set up to support efficient workflow processes for both paper to digital and complete digital workflows. Without an efficient process for your users, the efforts to reduce paper and implement secure online storage may be a significant challenge. As with any other business process, if it’s not simple for the users, the business process will fail.

There are many simple effective software products that make the transition to digital documents very simple and effective for the users. It is also crucial to remember that document security is an especially important consideration when going digital, so the software products need to be correctly integrated with a secure printing document control system and secure online storage system. With these integrations and custom workflows down to the user level, a digital document storage plan will be successfully implemented and is more likely to achieve user adoption.

Digital Documents Storage Challenges

Before implementing a digital storage solution for general office documents and records management, there are some potential challenges to consider:

1. Un-findable files - Without a simple, standardized process and naming conventions for moving documents into your secure online storage system, digital documents can be scanned or dragged and dropped to a repository and lost forever.
2. Non-text-searchable documents - If there is no automated/simple process to convert paper and digital files to text-searchable PDFs with reliable compression, future search and usability of the digital documents may not be feasible.
3. Complex workflow/process - If the workflow process to get digital documents into the secure online document repository isn’t simple, the users will not adopt.
4. Digital files at risk - Without integrating a secure printing system and locking down the printing and imaging devices for security, your firm’s digital documents may be at risk.

Secure Printing with the Help of a Managed Print Services (MPS) Partner

With all of the challenges associated with digital documents storage and printing, how does an organization overcome these hurdles for a successful implementation? It starts with MPS experts who really understand all of the ramifications and understand your business needs. So, what should a managed print services partner help with?

1. Have an audit of the office print device infrastructure completed with a proven software application to gain a clear understanding of your organization’s risks.
2. Implement an automated print device security software to close the gaps on risks of potential security breaches and ensure a secure print environment.
3. Implement a document control system to lock down all functions of printing and imaging devices (print releasing, scanning, faxing, copying) to require and enable quick and simple user authentication. This will increase security and provides a user audit trail.
4. Ensure that the workflow for the user has active directory integration to enable serving up custom workflows by user. The custom workflows can be created for hard copy to digital conversion and routing to storage and/or digital workflow and routing to storage from the desktop.

To ensure success in moving to a paperless environment, getting rid of the file cabinets that take up so much space, and move to secure online storage, contact an MPS expert to learn more.