subject: Document Management Services And Data Protection [print this page] Document Management Services for Every Business
Document management can be both time-consuming and expensive. Human beings that are in control of sorting, filing and organizing information are subject to error - however these systems have a significantly less chance of making error. However, investing in document management services can save you a lot of costs in the long run and a lot of time.
Many different businesses can benefit from having document management services as they streamline information and maintain an organized archival system. Financial institutions are usually required to show proof of unmolested reports and stats with long periodicity. This can be accomplished easier with the help of document management services that understand how to compartmentalize the vast amounts of data the financial sector digests on a daily basis. This efficiency will lead to better productivity and an improved business habit of accurately storing, filing and retrieving important documents.
Medical industries also benefit greatly from these services as they deal with records and images on a day-to-day basis. Having document management services can consolidate the vast array of information a single patient can hold, from history charts to X-rays, and be available for faster and more accurate consultations and diagnoses.
Essentially, any business that handles large amounts of paper should consider seeking document management services. Recruiting companies and accounting offices are more examples of businesses that could benefit from the scanning and digitization that document management services provide. Documents can be digitized, which eliminates the need for filing cabinets and lower the chances of losing things. A strong benefit of document management services is that exposure to sensitive material is limited by requiring proper authorization for such document retrieval.
The last and most crucial reason why document management services work for every business is because it has to. With the passing of recent legislation that dictates how information is stored and accessed, document management has become a more vital action for businesses to take in ensuring their compliance with the law, so that sensitive information such as a future employee's medical history or Social Security number is not disclosed to unwanted sources, for example. Document management services will help your business maintain a more efficient system to access information and to avoid litigation against privacy violations.
Data protection services and their legal implications
With the dawn of the Digital Age, everything that was originally written by hand and produced on paper has been and continues to be digitized and formatted for computer access. One can now access any piece of desired information through computer databases that search over words and images to find what the seeker needs. But if one person can have access to a trove of information, surely others can as well, and this is where data protection services come in.
Data protection services are becoming an increasingly necessary precaution for businesses to take. Data protection services offer document and image scanning, system database backups and access to climate-controlled facilities for hard paper copies. But with this immense storage of data comes a need to find a way to protect it from unwanted outside sources or tampering by anyone within. This has steadily become an issue with small businesses and large corporations alike that the federal government has started taking action against hackers and those who abuse their access to sensitive information.
Some legislation that already exists for data protection is the Federal Trade Commission's Fair Information Practice Principles. The Fair Information Practice Principles (FIP) was created in the 1990s to protect private information collected online by various web entities. The FIP also provides for any sanctions that may be necessary in protecting online privacy. Data protection services in the United States must also comply with these principles when providing their services to businesses within the country.
Another active legislation in data protection is the Right to Financial Privacy Act. This is a federal law that protects customers and clients of financial institutions (such as banks) from government searches. Essentially, the government must now ask for permission from the customer to access their financial data and records, whereas before the United State Supreme Court had ruled that financial records held by the financial institution were the institution's property, not the customer's. Customers are now notified of a government's desire to search records and given the opportunity to object. Data protection services may not be able to prevent the government from accessing one's financial information under certain circumstances, but it can provide a medium to which records are safeguarded against other unwanted sources.
