Due to the upward trend of data breaches over the past several years, data security has become a priority for modern organizations regardless of their industry. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a staggering 22,408,258 records were exposed (668 data breaches) between January 1 and July 2 of 2018. Regulatory compliance is not an option, it’s a requirement—companies not in compliance will face stiff penalties. Fortunately, there is a solution businesses can implement to ensure they meet regulatory requirements—document management.

What is document management?
Document management is a software-based solution that helps organizations store, organize, track, and secure their files and data. Many businesses use it to increase productivity, bring down costs, and boost efficiency by enabling users to rapidly search and access information in seconds. However, a good document management system does more than simply manage data assets.

Document management and security.
Document management can also play an active role in ensuring your organization meets its regulatory requirements. This solution increases your data security and ensures your corporate governance and regulatory compliance levels are where they need to be. While you may effectively check off the compliance boxes on a paper list, this isn’t proactive enough. Not to mention, it’s cumbersome and prone to mistakes. Using a document management solution enables you to:

• Automate content retention and deletion schedules to occur in a timely fashion, making certain no data is kept longer than necessary, effectively reducing compliance risk.
• Prevent data breaches from occurring by removing employee error from the equation; employee mistakes are one of the top causes of data breaches.
• Set specific user classifications and access to data sets.
• Leave a documented trail easily accessed for audit purposes when called upon to demonstrate adherence to compliance regulations.

Essentially, document management greatly increases your capacity to track digital footprints and boosts your transparency to meet increasing regulatory requirements. It’s also a proactive method of preparing for future requirements not yet issued.

Document management as a strategic tool.
Many of today’s organizations rely on a fragmented blend of old and new ways to process and store data. This has created large inefficiencies—26 percent of users surveyed feel the way information is managed in their organizations is “somewhat chaotic”. Document management can essentially serve a dual purpose by being used as a strategic tool to improve upon these routine processes. As a result, it effectively reduces organizational chaos while simultaneously meeting regulatory rules.

Want to simplify your business processes, bring down costs, and ensure regulatory compliance? Contact Golden Gate Office Solutions today to learn more about our document management solutions.