The loss of important business documents is a disaster for any company. Did you know that 70% of companies have or will lose important data at some point?
This number is too high and it all goes back to the fact that most companies don’t prepare for this possibility. They’re reactive not proactive.
We are going to help you in making sure that you don’t lose important business documents.
Go Digital
The first step is to go digital. The reason is obvious. Paper documents are inefficient, expensive, and bad for the environment. The average professional spends 18 minutes trying to source documents, which is much too time.
There’s also the risk of theft, natural disaster, and no way of recovering those paper documents once they’re gone.
They’re just less secure, so digitize your most important business documents now.
Prioritize Access
The next step to preventing loss through theft is to use permissions for any digital documents. That means only certain people should have access to specific documents. Go out of your way to set permissions and make it clear that documents can’t be copied out of the system without permission.
This is especially important in larger companies. Access must be carefully controlled.
A recent study said that 77% of companies already consider their employees as the weak security link within their organization.
Where is Your Data?
Is your data stored on your own servers? Are you using a third-party’s servers? Will you be taking advantage of cloud storage?
These are important questions you need to answer. You need to ask where your data is and whether it’s secure. Most companies will be using third-party companies.
Take extra care when finding a secure location.
Do You Have a Data Recovery Solution?
It’s bad enough when you lose data because of something that went wrong. But it’s even worse if that data is lost forever. The most careful companies will have this happen to them at some point.
Look for a data recovery solution with ease of access, multiple storage locations, and a strong commitment to security.
For example, R-Studio is one of the smaller data recovery utilities that have been making waves in recent months.
Secure Disposal of Data
One area that companies often forget about is the secure disposal of data. Data that isn’t disposed of correctly can come back to haunt you.
For example, old hard-drives and USB drives that are discarded can be potential security holes. Just because you deleted the data doesn’t mean it’s gone forever.
So how should you dispose of data?
First, paper documents should be shredded. Don’t just throw them in the trash.
Digital data that’s still on hard-drives should be disposed of through smashing the hard-drive. Before you throw it in the trash, dismantle it. This will make it impossible for anyone to retrieve that data.
Have a System in Place for Reviewing Security Procedures
Installing a security system is all well and good, but there’s little point in having one if you aren’t going to update or review it.
Every few months, you should investigate your security procedures and review whether they are still fit for purpose. Use a team to review each system and see if there have been any issues with it since the previous review.
Don’t be afraid to make changes if something is wrong.
Last Word – Are Your Documents Secure?
Data security has never been more important. Your business needs to take a proactive approach to data security if it’s going to succeed.
Is your business keeping its documents secure?
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