Document Archiving is a vital records management process that businesses and their employees should be familiar with. The consequences of not understanding your businesses archiving processes poses serious problems in the future. So lets set the record straight –
What is Document Archiving?
Document archiving is the process by which paper documents are securely stored for long periods of time in any data medium (hard drive, DVDs, cloud, etc). Such information may – or may not – be used again in the future, but nonetheless should be stored until the end of its retention schedule.
It should be emphasized that once archived, these documents and its data can be made active again. Information should always be readily available if required at short notice.
Documents that are archived might need to be saved because of legal rulings or because it is vital information that is likely to be used again in the future.
The Importance of Effective Document Archiving
Document archiving is vitally important for information management and can give a business greater control over their information processes.
As a business grows it will create more data – data that needs to be meticulously managed and monitored in order for it be utilized properly. Keeping tabs on this data can prove problematic for businesses that doesn’t have a document archiving system in place.
Documents that are not archived is harder to locate, secure and appropriately disseminate if stored in a local environment – such as an employees’ laptop – and thus will be inaccessible to other users. This will eventually have a negative effect on business functions and employee productivity.
The Top 3 Benefits of Archiving for Growing Businesses
- Prevent Data and Document loss -Documents that hasn’t been digitized and archived could be lost forever. The chances of an employee accidentally deleting or misplacing a file is slim, but it happens. Digitized and archived documents allows employees to retrieve back up information independently and quickly.
- Legal Requirements -Document archiving is important for legal reasons too. Many businesses accidentally dispose of documents that they legally should be keeping.An effective archiving system will ensure company-specific retention schedules are adhered to, regardless of each employee’s knowledge of these schedules. Data protection authorities are enforcing more sever penalties on businesses so employees should be made aware that ignoring these policies could lead to hefty fines or even prison sentences in some cases.
- Increase Security -Document digitizing and archiving is also important for security reasons, especially at a time when cyber-attacks and data breaches are becoming more frequent.By securely archiving documents, businesses can keep track information and increase protection from unauthorized third parties. Even the most cautious of businesses are now targeted by very adept hackers.
Paper records in open circulation can easily be taken from crowded offices or stolen by bitter employees. A reliable offsite archiving system will reduce this risk by warning senior staff when files are missing.
Document digitization and archiving is vital for business continuity and ensuring the highest level of performance in a competitive marketplace.