The intellectual property of your business is vital to its continuing success. Therefore, it is important to ensure confidential documents are not susceptible to security breaches. Whether it is a computer virus or a disgruntled former employee, you need to ensure your information is safe from unauthorized viewers. Luckily, with document management systems, it is easy to integrate advanced security features into your current workflows. Electronic Document Management can help protect your documents and increase productivity. If you are unsure if a document management system is right for your business, here are ten things you should know about document security:

1. Document management seeks to prevent data loss from the various kinds of threats to data. Unless a systematic approach is adopted for document security your business could be shut down by a breach of security.

2. Very few businesses can survive a complete loss of business data. Even partial losses can prove extremely serious, especially to smaller businesses. Consider what would happen if you lost all your customer data and invoice records from a computer virus. It can render you unable to recover your fees from credit customers that can equal a few months of sales. Or consider the secret product formula that gives you an edge in the market being stolen.

3. Document security starts with an intricate look at all the risks documents face and the impact of each. A clear view can make upper management aware of the real dangers that can easily occur, and as a result they are more likely to support security-enhancement measures.

4. One of the primary security measures is preventing unauthorized access to documents. Only authorized persons should be able to access each type of data. Access restrictions should be placed both on classes of data and levels of employees and can be integrated easily with the access controls on your multifunction device.

5. All documents should generate automatic audit trails to monitor who accesses specific documents. Most data losses have been attributed to employees and it’s essential that a record of their activities is on file.

6. Firewalls and Antivirus programs can prevent access to data on the internal network by external entities, such as hackers and viruses. However these tools probably only scratch the surface for the security of your company’s data. Protecting individual workstations doesn’t necessarily mean all your documents are secure.

7. Verified backups and storage at separate locations can help the business recover from data losses caused by different events, such as natural disasters like a fire, accidental or intentional deletion of data from hard disks. Electronic Document Management will make it easy for you to have an alternate location for data storage.

8. Electronic Document Management will verify your backed-up data to ensure it is recoverable in case of need. Systematic policies and procedures can ensure that all critical data is backed up in an up-to-date or even real-time manner. In the absence of Electronic Document Storage, not all data may be backed up and data loss recovery can prove incomplete.

9. Electronic documents can be tampered with comparatively easily, but document management puts authentication procedures in place to validate critical documents at the recipient’s end. Features such as electronic signatures can help ensure that documents have not been altered since they were signed.

10. Above all, regular evaluations must be carried out to identify current security vulnerabilities. Electronic Document Management Systems provide easy to access interfaces to allow for constant optimization.

Standards for information security can help businesses understand the complex issues involved and implement best practices for document security. With increasing dependence on electronic documents, this is an issue that cannot be ignored or left to untrained staff. Luckily, an easy way to increase your document security is through an Electronic Document Management System. continue reading...

Most multifunction systems today come equipped with advanced access controls. Despite having a large breadth in functions, these controls are actually very easy to use. Plus, by monitoring print usage, you can reduce your costs greatly by supervising usage by department, work group, or even individuals.

Access controls work in conjunction with the security features of your multifunction to set up PIN codes or card-access for desired users. By requiring every user to log in to the multifunction, you can get a clear report on how the device is being used. You can also set authorizations based on access groups. For example, you may want your Marketing Department to have access to color printing, but feel it would be unnecessary for the Sales Department. With access controls, you can minimize unnecessary color printing and reduce your costs.

Effective print monitoring also allows you to create defaults for certain access groups. You can set print jobs to automatically duplex (two-sided printing) to help save paper. This is a quick and easy solution that will yield instant results.

Multifunction devices are often used as a gateway to a company’s document management system. Access controls can ensure that unauthorized users do not get into confidential documents. Just as you can dictate print capabilities, you can also select which users can retrieve or view certain files, folders or specific documents. Controlled access limits your company’s liability and encourages employee responsibility.

Print management has been made quite simple with access controls on most multifunction devices. Once the controls are set up, managing your printing expenses and security is a breeze. Plus, with easy to use interfaces, the set up process can take just a matter of minutes. continue reading...