3 Signs your Electronic Document Management Strategy Might Not Be Compliant

1. You’re Primarily Dependent on Local Storage –

Maintaining document integrity can be a challenge when you aren’t centralizing content on the Cloud. When your important business information is only stored on one or two machines you are at an increased risk for data loss. Similarly, localized storage may not have the same level of security protection which puts you at risk for insider threats and compliance issues. Controlling information access is one of the key components of a good compliance strategy. Incorporating a cloud-based information management system can address a wide range of compliance challenges and make information access more consistent organization-wide.

2. You Aren’t Investing in Continuing Education –

Compliance policy is always changing thanks to new legislation, emerging security threats, and evolving customer needs. If you aren’t keeping up with the latest security protocols and industry requirements you may not be compliant. In the past few years, legislation like the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) had many businesses scrambling to make essential changes. Without clear training it’s easy for your document management strategy to end up like the wild west – with each team establishing their own methods and rules. This leads to information silos which make collaboration more challenging and obscures information oversight. It’s important to both stay current with the latest regulations and to have a clear plan for educating your team as things change. Ultimately, people enforce and maintain compliance so keeping everyone on the same page is vital.

3. You Don’t Have Clear Audit Trails or Visibility into your Operations –

If you cannot properly audit access and track revisions to your files, then you may not be compliant. For example, being ISO 9001 complaint requires you to review approvals before distribution, detect and track changes, and ensure confidentiality. The ability to track your data has benefits beyond just compliance. Tracking trends in how information moves through your organization allows you to make informed choices about what is working well for your business and what needs rethinking.

Compliance is a moving target. Maintaining agility and active oversight into your information management is key to staying ahead of the curve. As your company grows it might be prudent to develop a committee to oversee compliance at regular intervals or to hire a dedicated compliance officer. Additionally, you can leverage business partners or online tools to track and expand your compliance. Choosing tools or platforms that are already compliant with regulations like SOX (Sarbanes–Oxley Act), HIPAA, or PCI (Payment Card Industry) can put you on the fast track for your compliance as well.