In 1975, an article in BusinessWeek heralded the era of a “paperless office.” Since then, high tech has become a multi-billion-dollar industry that transformed the business by replacing manual processes with electronic communications and data.
But the promise of a paperless office has not been fulfilled, and it probably won’t be anytime soon. The fact is, the paper continues to be a dominant medium for mortgages, legal contracts and several other official documents that need to be carefully reviewed and signed every day. Paper is still a highly integrated part of day-to-day operations across almost every industry. Organizations that don’t take secure storage and the destruction of critical documents seriously are tempting fate.
Many paper documents are subject to strict regulations governing consumer privacy, so businesses can’t just throw them in the trash or recycle bin. The risks and fines related to mismanaging documents are surprisingly high. Additional drawbacks come with improper storage of physical records, such as a damaged reputation and lost customers. These potential firestorms aren’t enough for some organizations. Each day there are new reports of identity theft and personal records found in public places, which is a clear indication that paper documents are not being properly protected.
The point is clear: when paper records are not stored or destroyed securely, organizations put themselves in harm’s way. From a financial standpoint, unsecured paper documents can draw incredible fines:
Paper is here to stay, and organizations must do a better job securing documents during the entire span of their lifecycle. Consider the following strategies which will assist in the difficult process of document safety and compliance.
The area where critical paper documents are stored must be secure on several levels. Personnel access should be limited to only those who truly need the information, and their access should be monitored at all times. Installing facial recognition or vascular scan technologies, PIN-pad processors and swipe card-readers will greatly improve the security of records storage facilities. As the examples above indicated, having the wrong people accessing critical documents can create the potential for financial and reputational disaster.
Documents should also be as safe as possible from elements like fire and water. Investing in fire prevention systems like Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA) and non-water fire suppressant alternatives will further minimize risk to paper records. VESDA, for example, can identify the smoke of a freshly lit cigarette. A recent study found that the average corporation spends $204 for every lost document. In the event of a fire, burst water pipe or natural disaster, those costs can inflate exponentially in a matter of days, even hours.
Some organizations do not have space or resources to employ such security measures and store documents off-site. Organizations that choose this strategy should thoroughly investigate the storage provider’s reputation. What security measures do they employ? Who has access to documents, and what is its response time when documents are needed? Is its chain of custody secure, and how are documents destroyed? These are just a few questions that should be answered before handing documents over to a third-party storage provider.
After a document’s lifecycle has run its course, it must be properly destroyed. There are countless ways to do away with obsolete paper documents improperly, which can be catastrophic. The same personnel and security considerations taken with storage should apply to destruction. Knowing who is responsible for handling, transporting and destroying is critical to avoiding the nightmares associated with lost documents.
Organizations may rely more heavily on digital solutions than in 1975, but its dependence on paper is still prominent and will continue to be an everyday component of the business landscape. Paper isn’t going anywhere. The question is, “What are you doing with it?”