The unexpected pandemic presented companies with a new dynamic for working from home while maintaining productivity and strengthening efficiency. Many businesses have had to become innovative and flexible in continuing business while having employees work remotely. Although remote work is not new, many companies have had to figure out how to transition their employees to working remotely. Many organizations have encountered challenges in providing employees with access to the key records needed to support their function effectively.
Having a proper document management system and polices in place facilitates ease of working from home. Employees need to be well versed with the system and the policies to ensure protection of working data. Some of these recordkeeping policies to consider when working from home are as below:
- Document Security
- Document Destruction
Document Security
Whether working remotely is a temporary adjustment to the pandemic or being considered as part of a future working environment, document security is always a major concern of remote working conditions. Employees need to be able to access documents stored within the business digital environment from their remote locations. For companies having their documents contained within a firewall environment this can create challenges. Some of the solutions used by companies to manage these challenges are;
- Virtual Private Network setups (VPN) which ensure the network traffic between the data source and the remote access location is encrypted.
- Cloud Hosting, where users are given virtualized hardware resources making it easier for them to simultaneously collaborate from different locations.
Companies also need to look at the features on the computers provided to employees for remote working to ensure that these devices have protective features such as:
- Passwords that are not used across multiple platforms;
- Antivirus software;
- Regular software updates;
- Encrypted communication capabilities;
- Device locking after a short period of not being used.
Document Destruction
“Research has shown that 86% of C-Suites and 60% of small business owners agree that the risk of a data breach is higher when employees work off-site than when they work at the office. However, despite security risk concerns, only 35% of SBOs have a policy in place for storing or disposing of confidential information while working off-site, while 54% of SBOs have no policy in place at all. “Source: Shred-it 2018 Security Tracker Study
Working from a home office is now common practice in the era of COVID-19 and confidential paper based documents are still being generated in home stations. Such critical information can still fall in the wrong hands, possibly facilitating fraud or embezzlement or loss of company proprietary information. It is because of this that such documents should be maintained in neatly labeled files/folders and stored in a drawer or cabinet preferably under lock and key, just as would be done within an office environment.
Any printed document that is not in use should not be thrown in the rubbish or home recycling bin. All documents should be shredded securely to avoid confidential information about your company, clients, or employees getting into the hands of identity thieves. Companies may therefore need to consider equipping employees with shredders or, for bulk documents, provide access to a professional shredding facility in the neighborhood or call for a residential paper shredding service.
At C&R Group, we offer document management solutions for e-archiving of physical documents, thereby facilitating remote access. Document Management Systems (DMS) are computer systems and software used to store and track scanned documents in an electronic format. Document Management Systems are used to create, capture, index, distribute, review, maintain, store, and conveniently retrieve documents. A Document Management System also provides workflow capabilities, search, and security measures. We also offer secure document destruction services ranging from secure drop off services to secure on-site shredding for companies whose company corporate policy does not allow releasing confidential documents outside of the business premise.
A document management solution, specific for your enterprise can be a life saver as we continue working from home during this pandemic. Contact us to see how we can help you (Call: +254 020 760 8216 Email: bd@candrgroup.co.ke) implement a tailor made DMS solution for your organization.
Meshack Adonijah- Business Development C&R Group
