Electronic document management essential for business continuity

Without the right technologies in place, natural disasters pose a serious threat to business' critical information. For firms that rely on paper, these incidences can cause serious damage to important documents or worse, destroy them altogether, thus hindering employees' ability to perform their job and causing considerable damage to the company's reputation. In the face of increasingly expanding threats, firms are switching to electronic document management to ensure that data is secure, even after a catastrophe.

Long Island Newsday reported that AccuWeather has predicted three potential hurricanes in the United States this season. As a result, local continuity and disaster recovery experts have advised that businesses begin planning now to minimize negative impact. According to the news source, after Hurricane Sandy last year, the Small Business Administration received 2,732 loan applications and approved 746, totaling $74.1 million in Long Island alone. Companies that didn't qualify for those loans ended up having to front considerable sums themselves to rebuild.

Andrew Weitzberg, executive vice president of Brae Group Inc., a Smithtown-based business continuity consulting firm, told the source that firms need to conduct a risk assessment and then evaluate the potential impact to business from those factors. Newsday explained that experts also recommend backing up data and storing electronic copies offsite in case of a disaster.

Property Casual 360 asserted that business continuity plans are a crucial aspect of any organization, but many firms fail to realize this until it's too late. In order to improve these strategies, the source stressed that businesses need to go paperless, as relying on physical documents can pose an immense threat during a disaster.

A more reliable system
Marianne Petillo, president and CEO of ROM Reinsurance (ROM), told the news source that her company made a successful paperless transition with an enterprise content management solution that enabled the firm to capture, index and store all customer data. This not only minimized risks, but also empowered the company to improve service to its customers.

"The superior imaging and workflow capabilities in our ECM solution allowed us to eliminate all physical files from our organization, helping our employees to work more efficiently," said Petillo, according to the news provider.

Additionally, the source noted that cloud-based solutions have a unique advantage. ROM Reinsurance leveraged one of these options, which ensured that data and documents were still accessible during power outages.

With electronic document management, enterprises can protect important files and maintain productivity during any possible disastrous event.

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