Traditionally, companies and other organizations have turned to commercial shredding and storage companies for document control. On a schedule, document control companies show up to an office to collect papers for shredding or secure storage. However, cloud computing and digital document management is making traditional methods obsolete. Companies that embrace digital transformation make their customer information, contracts, and other documents more secure than ever. The transition to cloud-based storage will make companies more efficient and productive as they save time and money. Here are some basic secure document control solutions for businesses.

Digital Access for Document Control

Data breaches occur at businesses more than we would like to think. Something as simple as leaving a hard copy of a paper document lying out in the office puts it at risk of being stolen. When intellectual property gets stolen, it has a very detrimental effect on your business, employees, and customers. Fortunately, there is a way to keep your documents safe and secure. With digital document control, owners and managers control document access and permission settings. No one can just pick up papers sitting out on a desk. You can also track who engaged with a document, as well as any changes they made. As a result, it keeps your information secure. As your business begins to use your digital document management platform, take time to figure out processes and procedures related to employee digital access. Keeping things consistent will make these documents more secure in the long run. For example, make access rules for each type of department, like only HR employees will have access to these certain documents. By having these rules you will stay consistent with granting access, which helps keep documents safe. It also makes it easy when a new employee comes on board or when someone is promoted, because you will already have clearly defined rules about different employee roles and what that means in terms of access.

Automated Workflows

Following the topic of digital access comes the feature of automated workflows. In the past, when employees needed to transfer documents to a coworker, they would either send it attached to an email or print it out and hand them a physical copy. Other times, they would tell their coworker where it was located on the company drive. All of these methods work, but they aren’t the most efficient and don’t necessarily promote employee productivity. Once you send a document, you have no way of knowing if your coworker received it and if they completed the task. 

Enter automated workflows. Through a cloud-based document management platform, automated workflows can be set up for projects. Within the workflow, tasks are assigned, access is granted, and documents are attached. Users are notified when an employee has finished their part of the project. Tasks can be assigned certain priority levels so employees know what to focus on first. These workflows are intuitive and easy to use. The process is seamless. Through status notifications and approvals, everyone can stay on the same page and understand how the project work is going. In addition to connecting digital documents to the workflow, e-forms can be assigned and the necessary third-party applications can be connected. Also, everything is electronic! Need to sign an important document? Digital signatures are integrated into automated workflows so that employees can sign directly from their computer without ever having to print a document. This is especially helpful since so many people are working from home right now. The digital signatures are secure with PKI encryption. They are also compliant with the e-Sign and UETA Acts. Automated workflows are a secure and efficient way to get work done. With the proper access and permissions, employees can access their work whether they are sitting at their desk in the office or working from home.  

Cloud Storage: One Up-to-Date Version

When it comes to document management, multiple copies are often a big issue. Whether these documents are saved multiple times under different names or just floating around as various email attachments, multiple copies can lead to complications. Cloud-based document control makes sure that the copy you are viewing is the most up-to-date version. Everyone accessing the document is seeing the same - most recent - version. Updates are made in real time so everything is automatic. This also allows multiple employees to be working on the same document at once. The capability of real-time changes will also help keep your processes relevant and up-to-date when it comes to e-forms. In the past, making changes to physical or non-cloud based forms was a cumbersome task that involved saving different versions or printing new copies. With cloud-based forms, the change is immediate and all prior versions disappear. You can still track the changes you made on the form, but you no longer have to worry about employees accessing an older copy. 

Encryption

Storing documents in the cloud isn’t the end of keeping data secure. There are hackers that try and steal documents as they move from one point to another. Instead, find a provider with strong encryption protocols to keep your documents safe. With strong encryption features, permissions are set and access is granted only to the specific employees who should be viewing the documents. The Vasion system encrypts documents on different levels. First, the document is encrypted when it is in transit. That means as it is being scanned in, uploaded, or transferred to another employee, the document is safe. It will not be intercepted by a hacker. Once the document is in storage, it is also encrypted. This is much safer than having physical documents lying around the office for anyone’s eyes to see. In addition, digital signatures are also encrypted. 

Vasion helps companies to go digital. Our software solutions help keep employee information, customer documents, and business data and information safe and secure. Stop relying on outdated document storage and access processes. It's time to move into the world of digital document storage and encryption. At Vasion, we are here to help. Contact our team today to learn more about our software solutions and how we can help your business to become more efficient and productive. You'll be on the paperless path in no time!