Disasters are occurrences that spring up when they are least expected. They can either be natural or man-made circumstances. Granted that no one has the absolute capacity to predict when a disaster will take place, it is best to always be prepared for the worst that could happen. Offices that store a lot of paper and electronic documents have the most to lose should a disaster such as a fire or a tornado destroy those documents. Losing these documents will not only cause potential problems to the company but also for the clients who have trusted their information with the company. It can cause the company a great deal of embarrassment to not be able to produce backup data that have been lost during a disaster.

Technology today has paved the way for more security in storing documents and data. Document management services offer document hosting on the Internet through a remote hosting site. The good thing about remote document hosting is that the documents are safely stored in a separate vault that is not affected by damage to the users’ computers or hard disks. This also allows for access to the documents with a PDA or a laptop wherever the users may be.

Computer Viruses
Computer viruses are the biggest threats to documents and data that are stored in computers and electronic storage devices. They are the reason that a lot of budget is being allocated for efficient anti-viruses and anti-spywares. The problems that computer viruses pose are endless and potentially devastating for the offices and companies. From destruction or corruption of data to theft of important information, the possibilities on how viruses can inconvenience companies are matters that should never be taken lightly. Practically anyone who has a computer or a PDA has experienced some form of virus or spyware attack that has caused damage to their computer systems. Viruses can cause minimal problems such as slowing down the computer processes but they could eventually cause a total breakdown of the computer system when undetected early. Loss of data is one of the primary concerns of any computer owner but there are devastating instances when virus attacks cause the computers to be completely inoperable.

A computer virus is a small software program that spreads from one computer to another and interferes with computer operation. Viruses can be spread from infected external hard disks or electronic storage devices. They can also be spread through the Internet, from corrupted e-mails or attachments. Malignant websites disguise themselves by offering “free” services or prizes that are really spywares that infect computer systems once they are clicked or downloaded. They also come in the form of attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files. It is important to remember to only open or download attachments from trusted senders since e-mails from unknown sources can potentially contain viruses or spywares. Viruses can also be hidden in websites that offer free audio, video, game and file downloads. A lot of people fall prey to this type of virus scheme since mp3 files and videos are all the rage nowadays. They are also often sold at a price in music stores hence websites that offer such files for free can easily trick people who are looking to save a few dollars for entertainment. Yet there are instances that despite having saved some money from the free downloads, the users will need to spend quite a bit to have the damages caused by the viruses that came with the free downloads. Viruses can also come from pirated softwares that usually come with a hefty price tag but are being offered as a free download. There are also websites that ask for e-mail addresses before giving access to the file downloads. These are being sold to spammers or to advertising companies that use e-mails to advertise various products and services for different companies.

The people who create computer viruses use their innate intelligence and cleverness to wreak havoc in cyberspace. The viruses created constantly change and mutate to continually escape detection and cause damage before they are screened by anti-viruses. The probable reason for creating a virus is for the creators to feel a sense of satisfaction that they can cause so much destruction and watch as panic is being spread via the news and television. Their know-how on computers and information technology is being used for destructive purposes that could have otherwise been used for more productive innovations. Their extensive knowledge of computer networking, security systems, operating systems and file structures are utilized to carry on with their criminal acts in spying on other people via the Internet and destroying important data stored in users’ computers.

Water

Electronic devices’ primary weakness is water and moisture in general. Water corrodes the metal in the computers and damages their electrical system. Computers or laptops, once damaged by water, can be expensive to be repaired if they can be repaired at all. The hefty price of repair is comparable to the price of a new desktop or laptop hence, more often than not; people with electronics damaged by water are compelled to buy new computers. The loss of expensive desktops or laptops is aggravated by the loss of important data that is stored in the computer’s hard drive.

There is a possibility that complex pipelines inside building can burst and cause flooding inside the offices. Paper documents and computers are the valuable resources of offices that are most susceptible to the damage flooding can cause. Natural disasters like storms or hurricanes can break windows of the buildings and damage the contents of the offices including computers. In cases of fires, the built-in water sprinkler inside buildings can be set off and drench the computers inside the offices. The damaged computers is almost always synonymous to lost data hence saving important files in computers is not the most secure way of storing data. Online document management solutions offer a safe and secure way of storing data in remote hosting sites to avoid unnecessary data loss.

Fire

Even the safest buildings have the possibility to be damaged by fire whether by accident or by arson. If by sheer luck or early containment of the fire some computers are saved from total destruction; there is still the possibility that the computers can get damaged by the intense smoke caused by the fire. The intense smoke can corrode the delicate microchips inside desktops and laptops and can ultimately ruin the computer’s operating system. Fires can also occur from short circuiting of electrical wires inside buildings or even houses. It is quite devastating when such unpredictable incidences occur since they usually happen when no one is around to do damage control. Oftentimes, fires are detected when it has already been going on for a while and has caused substantial property damage. There are also instances when computer systems themselves experience overheating and electrical short circuiting which can cause fires. Irretrievable data loss is a huge problem that can cause the company to have decreased productivity and increased work to compensate for the lost information that are stored in the computers.

Identity Theft

People with ill intentions have penetrated cyberspace and have been committing crimes against individuals and companies at large. Computer crime can be broadly defined as any criminal activity involved in information technology infrastructure; including illegal access, illegal information interception, systems interferences, misuse of devices, forgery or identity theft and electronic fraud. Identity theft is potentially the most devastating of all the mentioned cyber crimes that are currently occurring all over the world today. A cyber criminal who has used the identity of another to create damage in a cyber community can cause irreparable damage to the involved person’s reputation and relationships with other people on the web. Valuable personal information such as access to credit card information and online bank accounts can be stolen through ingenious and devious means by scheming cyber thieves. They can also use credit information and online bank accounts to embezzle money without detection thus driving the account owner to bankruptcy. Credit ratings can be ruined and there is no easy way to quickly reverse the damages caused by the fraud. Usually, the criminal is able to make a string of illegal purchases before the owner can discover that the credit card is being used by someone else and report it to the bank. Stores cannot refund the bought products to the credit card owner since the criminal has already taken these products. While some credit card companies offer insurance against inappropriate charges, there are many kinds of purchases or services bought that are not fraud-proof.

Mother Nature

Hurricanes and earthquakes appear more often in the news more than before. The devastation caused by hurricanes can be lingering in terms of the financial effects from the damaged properties and lost manpower. The massive force from a hurricane can destroy a building’s windows and doors thus exposing the electronics and furniture inside to water and fire. Tornados can rip the roofs of houses and establishments and take with it the contents of these structures. Tornados have the power to carry with it debris as big as trucks and drop them in a place very far away from where they were picked up. Hurricanes and tornados can potentially damage computers even if they are inside buildings and offices by the sheer force of the wind and water getting into the buildings and destroying everything in its path. Areas that are prone to tornado attacks are never safe from potential destruction of their offices and homes and the valuables inside. Computer can be easily destroyed during a tornado or hurricane and the data inside the computer is inevitably lost. Saving important files through an online document management solution is still the safest way to protect data from loss and damage.

Terrorist Acts

Terrorist acts are performed when people least expect it. Like the calm before the storm, they strike during a day that seems no different from any usual day. During the 9-11 terrorist attack, many computers and data centers lost their valuable data due to the destruction of the buildings and some surrounding structures. The power outage also caused damage and loss of data to computers that are located in the New York area. Due to the money lost from losing important files and information, companies have become reluctant to trust data centers with their documents. Major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York should not be the only ones to be concerned with the effects of terrorist attacks on the companies’ workflows and productivity. Terrorist activities can take place anywhere in the United States. Terrorists may decide that less lesser-known cities are more attractive targets since security has been increased in major cities in the United States due to the 9-11 attack. Today, storing documents in an online document management platform is the safest and most convenient way of keeping documents accessible and secure. Employees in charge of computers for document storage no longer need to bear the responsibility of lost data when online document hosting solutions offer a secure environment for documents.

Personal Sabotage

Successful companies and individuals are both susceptible to personal sabotage due to the envy harbored by detractors and rivals. A disgruntled employee, an ex-spouse or ex-lover who may have known the company passwords to have access to the desktop and laptop containing important information can easily destroy those data or use it to damage the company. The damage may come in the form of viruses being spread behind corporate firewalls to insidiously destroy company files. Data with no remote backups or extra copies will be forever lost.

If an individual or company is at risk for any of the aforementioned dangers, it makes sense to store important programs and data remotely. The cost of lost data dwarfs the cost of paying proven backup services to maintain multiple copies of data in multiple locations. The advent of online document management has helped companies in resting assured that their documents are safe and well-protected from destruction or theft.

Document Management Solutions

It seems that technology is touching every aspect of our lives and telecommuting is one of the biggest changes. Telecommuting is essentially working from home and every year it gets easier for employers to offer this option to their employees. Internet based collaboration, including online meetings, document sharing, information access, and video conferencing are all making the concept of telecommuting a reality. Companies are more socially responsible today and offer products and services that enable information sharing and collaboration via the Internet and are making telecommuting more productive and convenient than ever before.

Impact on the environment is one of the most positive reasons for companies to promote telecommuting to their workforce. We are living in a time when most things that we do as a society tear down or destroy our planet. Telecommuting is definitely one thing that we can do to help save it. So what are the ways that telecommuting can help our environment? The following four examples are at the top of my list:

Vehicle Costs:
A tremendous amount of energy is required to produce transportation equipment such as automobiles, buses, trains and jet aircraft. If telecommuting is promoted, there will be less use of this equipment and less energy will be required for production, maintenance and repair of this equipment. Even more significantly, fuel resources needed to operate this equipment will be reduced, as well. Many studies have been done quantifying the large amount of resources wasted every year by commuters stuck in rush hour traffic.

Highway Costs:
The building, repair and maintenance of highways requires a large consumption of energy. Not only in the operation of the highway construction and repair equipment, but also in the manufacture and transportation of the required materials. An increase in the percentage of people telecommuting to work will decrease the need for expanded highways and associated road maintenance. In addition to highways, parking lots are continuing to consume more and more of our land surface area. If a larger percentage of people telecommuting to work, existing highways could be reduced in size and many parking lots could be converted to parks.

Office Building Costs:
The office building has heating, cooling and lighting needs, and the materials to build it and maintain it require energy in their production and transportation. Working from home requires only modest incremental demands on energy for heating, cooling and lighting needs, and makes effective use of existing building space and facilities. The trend toward video conferencing and internet based meetings is also gathering steam. Technology is finally making these modes of conducting business both dependable and productive. Having people attend meetings remotely reduces office space requirements, especially those large meeting rooms which are used only part of each day. These large spaces take a lot of energy to heat, cool and light.

Air Quality:
Whether or not you believe that the internal combustion engine is contributing to the erosion of the ozone layer and consequently to global warming; nobody can argue the negative affect that they have on air quality. One of the largest sources of pollution is the automobile. This is especially true of slow-moving automobiles that often exist in heavy, congested rush hour traffic. Of course, one solution to this problem is increasing the size and number of our roads, but an even better solution is to encourage those who can telecommute to do so.

Telecommuting is definitely one of the positive things that we are doing today as a society and not just in the United States. This is a worldwide trend that will grow as each developing country becomes Internet enabled.

The consumer web portals that most people are familiar with, offer a search engine, news, stock prices, weather and entertainment. They sometimes offer enhanced collaboration functionality such as email, chat rooms, dating sites, networking sites and sites for socializing. The argument can certainly be made that these consumer portals bring people together much more than ever before.

Corporate web portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a consistent look and feel, with access control and procedures for multiple applications, which otherwise would have been different entities altogether. Corporate intranets came into common use during the 1990’s. Having access to company information via a web browser ushered in new way of working. Rather than paging through thick employee manuals to find only outdated information, corporate intranets provided a method for disseminating current information to all employees. Some corporate intranets made it easy to find information by having very intuitive and easy to use front ends. Some facilitated information access and retrieval by offering search engines.

As corporate portals gained popularity, a number of companies began offering them as a hosted service. The hosted portal market fundamentally changed the composition of portals. In many ways they served simply as a tool for publishing information instead of the loftier goals of integrating legacy applications or presenting correlated data from distributed databases. Current Online Document Management companies, such as iDOC Corp, focus on collaboration and scheduling, in addition to the distribution of corporate data. As hosted web portals have risen in popularity, their feature set has grown to include hosted databases, document management, email, discussion forums, and more. Hosted portals automatically personalize the content generated from their modules to provide a personalized experience to their users. In this regard they have remained true to the original goals of the earlier corporate web portals.
Corporations are now offering portals that, for example, integrate every player in their supply chain or service infrastructure. A good example is a SaaS applications provider that offers sub-prime auto loans. The auto lending community is comprised of multiple organizations that all need access to centralized information. However, this information can only be accessed by individuals having the required user ID’s and passwords. The following are the types of organizations included in a typical auto lender ecosystem:

• Banks
• Credit Bureaus
• Auto Valuation Services
• Auto Lenders
• Auto Dealers
• Customers
• Investment Companies

All of these organizations benefit from sharing information that is normally collected when loan applications are underwritten or active loans are serviced. But there are also many loan related documents that need to be stored and retrieved via web portals. These types of documents include loan applications, credit reports, auto titles, insurance policies, and operational reports.

At iDOC Corp we have been offering Document Management solutions that facilitate the scanning, storage, and access of these documents for years, and since our entire solution utilizes a Software as a Service (SaaS) architecture, all access is available via any web browser.

One of the most substantial assets a business possesses is information. This expanding source of data often fuels a company. Losing any of this valuable data can cost businesses in multiple areas. The loss of records, orders, or products will damage your organization’s reputation, which often results in decreased profits. A sudden loss of data can also discourage employees and disrupt morale as a whole. Securing your information through the use of data backup services assures the streamlined operation of your company. Essentially, backing up data supports a company’s ability to retrieve data and restore it in a convenient manner. Managing massive quantities of archives consisting of imaging data, tax records, personal client information, orders, and inventory can become an insurmountable task. After several peaks in growth, your previous method to backup data may no longer suit your needs. Investing in a more advanced archiving solution will be beneficial. Data recovery solutions is an excellent alternative to solve your backup dilemmas and quicken restoration periods.

Basics of Online Data Backup & Encryption

Before you can select the right type of data recovery solutions to fit your company, it’s important to learn the basics. Understanding how online data backup and encryption works equips entrepreneurs with the knowledge to choose the perfect data recovery service for their business needs. Backup is a copy of data that can help replace the master copy in case it’s lost or destroyed. When you backup data, you’re simply protecting your vital information. Online backup is actually a different type of option that companies can use instead of traditional onsite backup. Providers of online backup services store company information offsite for a fee. Fees are generally based upon volume or set package prices. Organizations are given access to generate and manage their data through software or a form of web-based interface. This process allows more security supposing a natural disaster or file corruption occurs. Businesses decide whether to store all of their documents or only critical data. Some companies prefer to store the records required for legal purposes with online data backup providers and manage the rest of their documents onsite. Backup providers often supply companies with an available option to store records in the service’s secure vaults. This reduces storage costs to the business and eliminates the possible risk of losing their data. Even if a fire occurs, your records will be protected because you have extra copies stored in another facility. Organizations can set up their own schedule for when data is to be updated.

Data backup would be useless without adequate restoration or recovery. This is the advantage of online data backup. When you utilize these services, any lost records can be retrieved quickly without additional hassle. The data is carefully encrypted and placed in a protected server location. There are moderate data recovery solution services that do not offer server enhanced backup. The industry of data recovery solutions is increasing rapidly. Every business, from small to large scale, is concerned about protecting their valuable data. For major establishments like prominent banks, law firms, nursing facilities, or hospitals the potential risk of losing records in their database is not an option.

Document Scanning

One of the most challenging and beneficial tasks one can do when evaluating a product or service is a Return on Investment (ROI) analysis. It is also one of the most difficult since lots of assumptions need to be made and empirical evidence to support the analysis is hard to come by. However, that is simply not the case when performing an ROI analysis on Document Scanning solutions.

So what makes Document Scanning solutions different in regards to ROI analysis? Well for one thing, everyone can understand the concept of a Document Scanning solution. We have all waited while somebody rifled through a filing cabinet looking for a contract, patient file, or some other document to no avail. I have personally spent countless hours looking for enterprise software license contracts which are more often lost than located. One can only imagine how uncomfortable it is explaining to a customer that you don’t have any record of the special terms and conditions they negotiated 3 years ago for a 5 year contract.

A lot of us have also had the pleasant experience of locating these same types of documents using an electronic Document Scanning solution. The documents are typically indexed by multiple criteria which make them very easy to locate. More and more Document Scanning solutions are also utilizing web based architectures which makes it easy for any individual or organization to access documents. All they need is a web browser, a user ID and a password. Since they are in an electronic (or digitized) format, they can be either printed or sent as attachments to emails.

The next reason it is easy to do an ROI for Document Scanning solutions is that the criteria being measured can be easily quantified. Following are examples of these types of criteria:
• Physical storage cabinets and the floor space required to house them are easily identified. One can also determine the cost of this space as part of office space or other building overhead, and we must also include the additional space that is required to store copies of these documents in a remote location. These remote locations also need to be remote enough so that they won’t be impacted by the same natural disaster that affected the primary site. Also, of course there are costs associated with getting these documents to the remote locations and then filing them.
• The cost of storing digitized versions of documents can also be easily quantified and compared to the hard copy approach. We have all benefited from the drastically reduced cost of electronic storage. Disk space is one of the best values in the world today and many Document Scanning solutions store documents indefinitely. It is also much easier to access electronically stored documents in remote locations should the primary storage location be affected by a natural or operational disaster.
• People costs are also easy to compare between physically storing and accessing hard copies and electronic Document Scanning solutions. The comparison of scanning documents and physically filing them can be similar at low volumes but the cost of scanning can be reduced significantly when volumes are high. The cost associated with locating and accessing documents using a Document Scanning solution is significantly easier, faster and more cost effective. Most Document Scanning solutions include sophisticated indexing solutions which make it easy to locate and access scanned documents anywhere in the world.
• Productivity gains should also be included in any ROI analysis of Document Scanning solutions. As with any other solution, the biggest savings are always related to people costs. Increased productivity associated with Document Scanning solutions can lower the number of people needed to perform the document storing and accessing process. Users can also access documents themselves rather than relying on members of the administrative staff. More importantly, highly paid employees cannot do their jobs when they are trying to locate documents. I recently had an experience with a major software company that couldn’t locate an important contract that I needed. I estimated that I had to make at least 15 phone calls, received 10 phone calls and either sent or received 10 emails to finally get the contract. Cost savings associated with “people costs” can be easily calculated by estimating hours saved per year and then multiplying that by cost per hour per employee based on their hourly compensation.
• Customer satisfaction is not always as easily quantified but we all know how important it is. It is also easy to understand how irate customers can become when important documents can’t be retrieved. One would be surprised how often Account Managers for high tech companies are forced to ask their customers to locate contracts for them since they can’t locate their own. Ouch!
• Security is also an important factor when evaluating Document Scanning solutions. Hard copies of documents can be inappropriately accessed much easier than their electronic counterparts. That of course is predicated on the document accessing services having adequate security built in. Standards are in place for document storage security and it is easy to determine if a Document Scanning solution meets these standards. Another very important consideration is that electronic documents cannot be accessed without creating an audit trail. Audit trails are difficult to create for processes associated with physically accessing stored documents and since they are labor intensive, they are also very costly.

Document scanning solutions are becoming implemented widely across corporate America and the world. One reason for this widespread acceptance is the fact that ROI analysis can be easily conducted which justify the cost of implementation. I would strongly suggest that anyone evaluating the implementation of a Document Scanning solution to require each vendor to provide an ROI analysis for their solution.

Welcome to the iDOC Corp. Blog
We constantly try to offer the most up to date information for our customers and potential customers and created this blog to help answer those questions that you may have when looking at different document management solutions for your organization. We hope you find these posts, articles, news feeds and case studies helpful as you gather information to find the right solution for you and your company. Please don’t hesitate to contact us by phone or through our contact us form.