Security is an essential concern for any business. Keeping sensitive documents accessible to those who need them but safe from those who don’t can be a significant challenge. When you’re dealing with physical files printed on paper and sorted into drawers freely accessible to anyone in the vicinity, it may be hard to know who sees what when, or who might be making copies and sneaking them out of the office. Online document filing systems offer a variety of security measures that make locked drawers and paper shredders unnecessary for keeping your important information safe.
Encryption
A primary feature of document management software systems is the ability to encrypt files so that they are unavailable to unauthorized eyes. Access can be further controlled by password protection and granting permissions. Only those who are specified and accountable will be able to see what there is to see. Even with locked cabinets and locked file rooms and sign-out sheets, it’s difficult to have that kind of control over paper documents.
Backup
Another aspect of security is knowing that important papers can never go up in smoke or be reduced to a pile of pulp by a flood. Backup features of computer-based document management allow copies of your files to be safely stored off-site if you choose so that even a computer breakdown on your premises won’t put your documents out of service. That’s security that would be hard to replicate with hard copies and physical file drawers.
Tracking
Wonder who’s put eyes on your documents? Without a fingerprint kit, it would be tough to trace every individual who has touched any particular paper file. Systems for managing documents online are on top of that task, however. They can track and report back on who opened a file when and where and what was done. You’ll never have to wonder if a mailed document was received or went astray.
Storage
Centralizing huge numbers of files in one place is a major security benefit. You’ll need only one layer of protection for all instead of dozens or hundreds of different safety precautions. In addition, files that might be forgotten in boxes in dusty storerooms can be brought into a system where they’re easily accounted for and brought under a protective umbrella. As a bonus, you’ll gain space and storage when you no longer need enormous file drawers to hold your paper documents.
Retrieval
A file isn’t truly safe and secure if you can’t put your hands on it exactly when you need it. Document management systems make it easy to search for what you’re looking for in a variety of different ways, from a title to any word in the text. They can also be accessed by employees in different offices and remote workers without having to shuttle sensitive files via mail or messenger. And you’ll always know who’s been working on what for how long.
Preservation
Ink can fade, paper can degrade, documents can crumple and crimp and lose pages and become harder to read with time. Scan those important papers into a computerized filing system, and they’ll always be crisp and easy to read. No dust or smudges or coffee spills will make them inaccessible and unusable. They’ll remain safe and secure in electronic form long after their paper lifespan passes. And although there’s no undoing an accidental paper-shredding, deleted files can often be recovered and resuscitated.
Keeping your business’s paperwork safe and secure is a never-ending challenge, as your employees churn out more and more documents with each passing day. Bringing old documents into an online filing system and starting new ones there in easy-to-use templates and forms and folders is the best way to make sure your important papers will always be available, accessible, trackable, organized, backed up, and stored efficiently. You’ll know that no disaster or unexpected event will sweep away years of work and documentation and irreplaceable information. That’s a good feeling.
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