Document Management and Medicine
Secure and efficient document management is important for all businesses, but for medical facilities it can be a matter of life and death. If you're looking for a document management service for your medical practice or doctors office, there are a few thing to keep in mind before signing a contract.
First, make certain that the service employs the use of a digital archiving and retrieval service. The difference these systems make in speedy and accurate finding and delivery of your needed documents is remarkable.
Second, be positive that they offer 24 hour delivery. Medical work is an around the clock profession, and you can't afford a document management service that doesn't hold itself to the same standards. Finally, ask if the center is familiar with compliance regulations of HIPAA. These regulations are complicated, and finding a service that has a firm grasp on their finer points ensures you stay free from fines and lawsuits.
The Economist on the Paperless Office
The Economist ran a story a few weeks ago about how the paperless office has finally gone from a dream to a potential-reality. With the advent of the Internet, combined with new improvements to digital document management, data protection and eDiscovery plans - office managers may finally be at a point where they can rid themselves of their paper shackles. The article doesn't mention digital document management by name, but it's certainly a major factor in the changing workplace. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the piece is how young new workers are driving the trend.
As new generations of office workers leave university—where their class notes and syllabuses are online these days—they take their habits with them. They like digital information because it reduces clutter. It can be “tagged” and thus filed into many folders instead of just one physical file. It can be searched by keyword. It can be cut, pasted and remixed. It allows for easier collaboration, through features such as “track changes”. It can be shared across an ocean as easily as across a desk."
Successful Content Management
News Factor ran an article earlier this month discussing the merits of traditional records management with newer digital document management programs. Interestingly, the case study featured in the article focuses on one of GRM's main solution industries -
Government Document Management. Following changes in records/document management in San Diego county, the case study gives the reader an inside look in how transitioning to a new program goes. From the start of the article:
"Recently, the County of San Diego RM underwent a major overhaul. The county combined its electronic document management (EDM) program with the RM program when it realized they had similar goals. The joint programs are now collectively referred to as the enterprise content management (ECM) program. This program directly affects all county departments and indirectly affects all county employees and the public."
To read the entire case study, please follow the link at the top of this post.
The Impact of the Electronic World
An article went up on
Sci-Tech Today's website yesterday discussing the impact of the electronic world on the document and records management industry. The author methodically breaks down the massive changes brought about by the digital age and the advent of the computer and Internet - noting the gradual shift away from traditional off-site document management to more technologically advanced forms of the same idea like tape storage, scanning and archiving and eDiscovery.
According to the article:
"The amount of digital information to be managed is truly staggering. According to a March 2008 IDC white paper called The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe, the size of the digital universe in 2007 was 281 exabytes (1 exabyte = 1 billion gigabytes), and it is estimated the size of the digital universe by 2011 will be 10 times that figure. In The Sedona Principles: Best Practices Recommendations and Principles for Addressing Electronic Document Production, The Sedona Conference Working Group notes that compounding the management complexities is the fact that most information is being created in electronic form. "
Storing Media Safely
Keeping a back log of your company's important files and information is becoming more important with each passing year. Using an external hard drive is an easy and convenient way to back up all of the digital information in your office, but what is the point if a fire or natural disaster strikes your building? Keeping your backed up data in the same space as the original copies doesn't make sense, and document management centers provide a solution. Find a company that offers secure, off-site media vaults in which you may store older external hard drives and other back-up materials.
Our media storage
is among the very best in the New York Tri-State. We're set-up to handle all forms of multi-media storage, and have proudly worked with production companies of all shapes and sizes. Our vaults not only offer the protection of being in a separate location, but also provide a far healthy environment for electronics than any office space. With computer controlled temperature and humidity and a minimal amount of dust and dirt - why would you trust your data to be stored anywhere else?
More on the ARMA Survey
A few days ago I mentioned that ARMA had conducted an international survey of it's members. This morning I stumbled across an article more closely assessing the data returned from more than 9,000 different document management vendors. According to the article,
72% felt unprepared for email management
68% were unprepared for eDiscovery
75% did not have an enterprise system to manage content — digital or physical records
62% did not have an
email archiving system66% use the same retention policies for physical and electronic documents, but many were not consistent in their application nor enforcement of these policies
41% manage their email according to their retention policy
To learn more on the findings, you can
read the entire article here.
E-Discovery can be Painless
I just stumbled upon an
excellent article about the growing importance of e-Discovery, especially at law firms. The piece touches on new legal codes requiring companies to back up digital information, as well as ways to transition into the process seamlessly and painlessly. From the article:
"At first glance, it can look daunting. Electronic data discovery -- requesting documents that may exist only on somebody's hard drive, cell phone or PDA -- has been used for several years but got a big push into mainstream law practice when the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure clarified rights and procedures in 2006, according to John Ferroli, a partner in the Grand Rapids office of the Dykema law firm. Far more data is created electronically than on paper today, so the volume of potentially important e-documents in any given case could be staggering."
GRM Customer Handbook
At GRM we take great pride in ensuring that our customers are always in the know. One of the ways we do that, is by providing an invaluable tool that teaches customers how to get the most out of GRM’s vast array of services. After interviewing both customers and prospects to see what they would like to see in a Customer Handbook, GRM got to work. What was developed is a description of how to use each form and service offered by GRM.
Also included, as suggested by the end user, is a section that can be used to centralize and maintain all contracts, Authorized Personnel forms and other important GRM documentation. Most importantly, managers can now use this handbook, also supplied on CD, to train other employees, saving hours of training, increasing efficiency and ultimately creating standardization. Feel free to take a walk through a sample of GRM’s Customer Handbook.
A Case for Document Management
IStockAnalayst.com ran a story yesterday listing the many benefits of employing an off-site document storage and management program. Within the article, the author points out the financial reasoning behind investing in such a program, as well as the often-stated fact that streamlining your company's document management program is a surefire way to boost productivity and effectiveness.
From the article:
"But for many companies, cost and peace of mind are also major factors. Now more than ever, it is imperative for private sector businesses to head off corporate disasters with effective contingency planning, which includes ensuring the back-up, security and management of vital records . . . Storing large amounts of hard data off-site can be a cheaper and more professionally managed alternative to keeping documents on- site."
ARMA International Survey
A new study conducted by CA, inc. shows that, sadly, the majority of records management professionals are not up to snuff on major services that GRM provides like email management. In our digital age, keeping track of all your companies digital communications is more important than ever before. There's no single better way to protect your information and yourself from legal action. According to the article,
"These findings prove that despite the fact that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) were updated in 2007, organizations are still struggling to gain control of their information," said Reed Irvin, vice president, product management, Information Governance at CA. "In order to take a defensible stance in today's litigious and regulated environment, strategies for enterprise level information governance must be considered."
GRM and Government Solutions
Although many people don't like to admit it, government is a business. There is paperwork, files, human resources official email correspondence and of course, always the threat of losing everything in the event of a disaster. Government archives and archiving needs are often complex. With budgets to meet and requests coming from various locations and requestors, maintaining control is often a challenge. To add to the complexity are the various government regulations and ever increasing volume of information.
Many government agencies even require a trained archivist to handle their more sensitive information. At GRM we can take on as much or as little of the document management process as necessary. We help streamline efficiency, establish best practices, or simply store and manage information in one of our secure facilities. We've put in place document management programs, archival and retrieval systems and disaster recovery plans for a host of different government agencies and institutions, and we can do the same for you. We understand that your job is to serve the people; our job is to serve you.
Exactly One Week Until the ARMA Convention
There's just seven days left before this year's national ARMA Convention in Las Vegas, but it's not too late to schedule a meeting. GRM representatives from our locations across the country will be on hand to meet with any and all potential clients or business members with questions.
If you'll be in attendance, you should stop by, sit down, and even pick up a free gift. Our team will be positioned at booth 546 for the duration of the convention. To schedule a meeting with a GRM representative from your area, please
visit our website.
Five Reasons to Consider Document Management
I just came across a brief press release out of Florida that provides a comprehensive list of five reasons to consider document management. You can read the entire
press release here, but here's the gist of the list:
1. It will save your business money.
2. It will save your employees time.
3. It frees up physical space in your office.
4. You're covered in the event of a disaster.
5. You're making your business more environmentally friendly.
Bin Rotation
Why use open wastebaskets or recycling bins when
GRM can provide security containers for the safeguarding of critical information? You have two styles from which to choose: a 200-pound capacity, heavy gauge plastic mobile toter or a 100-pound capacity, stationary executive console. Both are locked and tracked by advanced bar code technology. Customized rotation schedules are available and all rotations are performed by GRM personnel and vehicles. Document shredding or destruction is performed within 24-48 hours of retrieval, and a Certificate of Destruction is issued upon completion.
GRM and Data Protection
GRM goes to great lengths to provide the best Data Protection Services in the New York Tri-State. From the cutting edge digital technology employed at our storage center to our climate controlled vaults to the drivers we hire for our delivery service - each facet of our Data Protection Programs are monitored closely for efficiency and safety.
And having an efficient Data Protection plan in place is more important than ever. Recent figures state that 75% of companies that exist today will experience some major form of email outage this year. Further more, less than 10% of those companies without a protection and recovery plan in place will recover. It's too important to be able to access your vital business information - can you really afford to go unprotected? To learn more about GRM's Data Protection services, please visit
our website. It's packed with information on how we can help.
15 Days Until ARMA Convention
15 Days and counting until the start of this year's ARMA Convention in Las Vegas. We'll be at Booth 546 meeting with potential clients and taking meetings. Do you plan to be in attendance? If so, have you already
scheduled a meeting with GRM? It's still not too late to schedule a meeting via our website. Just follow the link, fill in your information, and receive a free gift for committing some time to learning more about GRM's document management services. We hope to see you there.
45 Ways to Green Business Meetings
This morning I stumbled upon an article titled -
45 Ways to Use Technology to Green Meetings - that mentions the benefits of electronic document management. We've stressed a number of times on the
GRM Document Storage blog how environmentally friendly
GRM can help to make your business, but this was an interesting, specific example of electronic document management working on a small scale. An excerpt from the article:
"It is getting easier being green. The move to make meetings more environmentally-friendly is finally taking hold and meeting professionals are working together to reduce, recycle, and reuse to dramatically improve the environmental impact of events. Technology can help in this effort reducing paper and significantly improving efficiency along the way."
Go Paperless, Save Money
A few days ago
CMS Wire ran a story about the many benefits of a paperless office. From cutting costs to increasing productivity to better security - there's hardly any downside to shifting to an all-digital workspace. According to the article:
"Many companies who have gone paperless have found that such processes have eliminated the need for paper notes and have made the entire customer file electronic and easily accessible to anyone involved in the sales process. In addition, by implementing an all-electronic customer file, accounts payable have instant access and rapid resolution to any payment issues, from collection or short payment queries to purchase orders. "
GRM has all of the tools in place to make your office's transition to paper-free seamless and simple. Our eVaulting solutions and off-site data protection programs have already helped many businesses across the country to go paperless.
Visit our website today to learn more about how we can help.
On Environmental Storage
One of the crucial parts of any document management center is a solid environmental storage program. Traditional document storage utilizes boxes and other containers to safely store paper documents and files. Each of the boxes are tagged with a bar code and then matched with a shelf location that has its own bar code.
Environmental storage focuses on less traditional media and information storage, namely x-ray film and computer tape. For these types of media, specific and controlled storage environments are required to assure they stay in pristine condition. I've discussed at length different variations of environmental storage. From film and video to climate controlled data vaults.
Records Management and eDiscovery
I just stumbled upon a very informative article making the case for creating a records management program for your business that utilizes one of GRM's most-used technologies, eDiscovery. The article, which was published in
Computer Technology Review makes the case that having a comprehensive archive of all your companies digital work transactions is one of the simplest and most efficient ways to protect yourself from legal disaster. According to the article:
"E-mail should be considered as the first candidate when it comes to managing information risk. It is subpoenaed in 75 percent of e-discovery cases. The key to managing risk is to ensure that the appropriate teams--IT and legal departments (at a minimum)--work together to establish records retention policies that reflect the business’s regulatory obligations, business continuity needs and litigation risks and its IT infrastructure."
There's a link at the top of this post to the entire piece.
