Most Australian businesses want to move all document storage to an electronic system, but this isn't always possible. Digital archives of customer and business information are generally cheaper and easier to manage, but it's often not practical to scan and upload every paper record into an electronic document management system. As such, paper document storage is still vital to many financial organisations. Make sure your paper document storage is fit for the purpose, and avoid the five following mistakes that could damage your company's reputation.
Failure to meet legal requirements
Businesses and organisations in Australia are subject to around 80 Acts at either State or Federal levels that impose restrictions on document retention and destruction. Failure to adhere to these regulations could result in severe financial penalties for your business. Many rules apply equally to paper and digital records.
For example, the Privacy Act 1988 demands that you destroy or de-identify personal customer information that you no longer need for the original collection purpose. Paper records present a significant challenge because somebody will need to physically inspect and destroy documents on a regular basis. Nonetheless, if an inspector finds old paper records in your archives that no longer serve their intended purpose, you could find yourself in trouble.
Treating all paper records the same
Financial organisations must routinely deal with many types of document. Some documents are more sensitive than others. For example, documents submitted as proof of identity by your customers often contain high-risk, personal information. Alternatively, historical quarterly financial reports are useful, but you probably won't face any regulatory issues if you don't adequately protect this type of document.
Make sure your document storage does not treat all your paper documents the same. For example, you will need to more tightly restrict access to customer identification documents, so you may need different storage areas. You should always apply the same security rules to paper documents as you would electronic records, especially when it comes to privacy markings and access restrictions.
Unsuitable storage environment
You must make sure you keep paper records in a suitable storage environment. Security aside, paper records are vulnerable to many environmental factors, including extremes of heat, light and humidity, and there's no point storing crucial documents that become unreadable due to environmental hazards.
Commercial storage facilities will give you a carefully controlled environment where you can keep crucial documents. Remember that professional storage facilities must look after a broad range of items for their customers, so they will invest heavily in their premises. Can you offer the same sort of facilities in your main office at the same cost per square foot?
In-house storage and management
According to the amount of paper records you need to store, in-house storage and document management is often a complex, costly and unnecessary overhead. For example, security often becomes a challenge if you store paper records in a building where hundreds of your employees work.
Many companies specialise in outsourced document management systems. These specialists have the premises and facilities necessary to look after your paperwork. For smaller businesses, it's still often more cost effective to rent commercial storage space for paper records, compared to the equivalent cost of the office space you may need for storage.
No disaster recovery plan
You should only retain paper records that you need to keep. As such, by definition, there is some risk to your business if something happens to these records. Nonetheless, many organisations fail to consider paper document storage when setting up or managing a disaster recovery plan.
If a disaster occurs, you need to consider how quickly you will need to get access to your paper document archive. Of course, if the documents are highly critical to your daily operation, you should also make sure you have a backup for the paper copies. Either way, if your disaster recovery plan doesn't consider your physical document storage arrangements, you could face problems.
Although most financial businesses now aim to manage customer data electronically, many organisations must still keep certain paper records. Make sure your document storage facilities and processes are fit for the purpose, and consider the merits of commercial storage facilities and/or outsourced document management service providers.
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