Office Document Strategies Blog

Are you puzzled with the who, what, where and why of document scanning and management? You have heard or read a lot about document management- but  exactly what is a document management system- and why do you need it? 


Wikipedia defines a Document Management System (DMS) as a computer system ( or a set of computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. Smeadsoft defines it as the imaging, storage and retrieval of documents and information scanned into an electronic system. This includes both documents and files orginally created in electronic format as well as paper documents, photos and other items scanned into digital form and saved with keywords.   Both definitions start with STORAGE of documents.

If you want to store documents away- never to be looked at again - then get a brown cardboard box, fill it with paper, seal it up with tape, and store it in the basement- and in 20 years when you move- open it up- and finally decide to throw it out. Rather extreme case in point. Because if you really have documents that you will never have the need to look at again- shred them now.   But most documents do have to be looked at again for numerous reasons.   In your company is there any one type of document that seems to have the most “handprints” on it.  Are invoices passed around for approval and payment processing? Is customer correspondence shared with different departments? Are meeting notes distributed to several team members.    Where to start- I’ll share my experience with Accounts Payable.  
 

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Topics: Scanning, document filing, document management, Document, office document strategy, shredders

   When someone talks about office documents the image that usually comes to mind is a piece of paper.

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Topics: technology tools, video, document management, office document strategy

Much has been made about the CBS News report on digital copier hard drive security.  I have had discussions with several of our clients who were asking if they should be concerned.  We have advised them this is a manageable process.  In some ways it is similar to  shredding paper documents when they come to the end of their useful life.

 

The concerns raised have been known for several years and are similar to concerns with computer hard drives at the end of life of a computer.  None of the brands we carry were part of the subject of the report.

Multifunction printer manufacturers have responded to the need to provide security in several ways:

•  some have made removable hard drives available as options
•  all major manufacturers offer some form of security option which will provide levels of encryption and file removal
•  there are reformating options which are available through the service settings on machines which will overright the hard drive and return the device back to factory settings.

As a vendor of these devices we provide various levels of response to meet the varying needs of our clients:

1. at minimum we reformat drives at the end of a lease and return the multifunction copier back to factory specs.
2. for some brands we can remove the hard drive from the device, connect it to a computer and use drive overwrite software to wipe the data more securely.
3. for clients who have concerns about security during the active use of the device we will configure equipment with the encryption options available from our suppliers, Kyocera, Samsung and Ricoh.
4. if clients are exceptionally concerned about the potential of data on hard drives then we will offer to the client the ability to "buy" the hard drives from the device and we will put new drives into the device before returning.  The costs of this option will vary depending upon how the manufacturer has dealt with their hard drive design.  In some instances the drives have proprietary boot formats and are only available from the vendor leading to a more costly replacement.

While we have not experienced the level of data exposure that was shown in the news coverage the issue of client data security is important for every business. Responding to ensure procedures are in place to protect this information is important to everyone concerned.  When laptops, cell phones or desktop computers are recycled at end of life it is important that users are aware that all of these devices have non volatile memory locations which need to be cleared and data removed.  Print devices of all types which use hard drives to carry out their work are simply subject to the same precautions.

Working with your vendor to establish the right mix of security, cost and information protection is an important part of any acquisition in this digital world.  

Lee K

 

  Did you buy the data security kit with your new MFP?  Is this a concern for you? 

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Topics: Multifunction Printer, Document, Copier, colour multifunction, privacy, colour multifunction printer

There is a lot of discussion in the printing industry these days about managed print services.  According to the Managed Print Services Association this concept is, "Managed print services is the active management and optimization of document output devices and related business processes".  To date the focus of these concepts has been the large enterprise, organizations with hundreds or even thousands of print devices.  Over time the concept is working its way into the SMB space where organizations with a few printers or multifunction printers can begin to think along the same vein.  

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Topics: Multifunction Printer, MFP, Document, cost of printing, Managed Print Services, MPS

 

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Topics: Colour printer, colour multifunction printer, sales

In Part One of  this blog we talked about some of the choices to be made in controlling and deploying your colour printer.  But how do you decide between all of the options out there?  Is a small inexpensive printer the way to go?  Or would a larger more robust device be better?  One of the key decisions can be based upon the total cost of ownership for your device.

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Topics: Printer, Colour printer, cost of printing

 IT networks are the lifeblood of the office.  When the system goes down everyone goes into panic mode.  Deadlines start to loom, users get frustrated and the poor IT support team is challenged to get things running NOW!

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Topics: Computer, network backup, IT network

There are many productivity tools available for download off of the web.  From time to time as we work to support IT networks and computer software we come across tools which we find useful and which can solve simple problems we encounter.  

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Topics: Computer, Software, software tools, Document

With the increasing concerns about personal and corporate privacy a properly designed paper shredding plan is necessary for all sizes of offices.  Long gone are the days when any business can afford to throw documents in the waste without being sure they are destroyed in a secure fashion.  

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Topics: privacy, Paper shredding, shredders

One of the questions I frequently get from clients when we talk about their colour printing needs is, "How much is this going to cost to run?"  They have heard the horror stories about over spending when they introduce in house colour print capabilities, or they have experienced them in the past.

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Topics: Printer, Colour printer, cost of colour, toner, colour multifunction