Whether you're a business that's entirely digital or heavily dependent on paper processes document storage and management are vital to your company. Secure document retention helps protect the privacy of confidential information, organizes documents and allows users to access them quickly while ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Despite the benefits that come with a clear policy on document retention many organizations struggle to implement a policy that is efficient and complies with. This is particularly the case when a company doesn't have the tools needed to manage records effectively or fails to implement the practices as a part of a security culture.
Secure Document Retention
A comprehensive document retention strategy ensures that an organization has the documents needed for responding to Freedom of Information Act or support a legal case. It also ensures that a business meets regulatory requirements such as privacy and security laws for data or financial record keeping regulations such as anti-money laundering or terrorist financing regulations.
A document retention system does not just ensure that documents are securely stored for as long as is necessary however it can also help a business improve efficiency by reducing the number of duplicate files and redundant storage of data. This makes it easier to locate and retrieve information quickly, and to create and maintain accurate documents. It also helps to streamline processes, promote a positive security culture in the workplace and reduce the risk of costly fines for non-compliance.
In the end, a sound document retention policy will include protocols to safely dispose of documents both electronic and physical when their official storage period is over. This may include shredding files or hard disks, and securely deletion of data from cloud platforms and servers.