The Upkeep: Maintaining Your Digital Documents
In this episode of our blog, we are going to go over how to keep those digital documents digital. Most companies that you talk to have already done or are in the process of digitizing all their files. Some may have them saved in their local files, some in a form of cloud-based storage, and others have moved those files to their CRM. Let’s go over some of the departments that may not be keeping those day forward files digital and may still be creating paper-based docs that tend to get lost or misfiled. Accounting – Accounting can be either AP or AR, so this will go over several documents that they have that may still be paper based. Invoices – Companies still rely on printed invoices to send to their clients. Because of the reliance on the Postal Service, it takes longer now to get to the client meaning it takes longer for your company to get paid. This is the same on your end as it now takes longer to pay those invoices and does not allow you to take advantage of early pay discounts. It also means that those invoices could be lost or mis-filed leading to late charges and possibly affecting those relationships with clients or vendors. Expenses – Using paper receipts to capture expenses for the company. This leads to missed charges, late repayment of those expenses, or no reimbursement at all if you cannot recreate the receipt. Delivery Forms – Because there are so many ways to get goods to clients, relying on paper delivery forms can create issues. You cannot charge a client for your goods without proof of delivery, and you would not want to be charged for something delivered if it cannot be proven it was delivered and signed for. HR – HR still heavily relies on paper forms to capture information that they need for the employee profile and file. Repetitive filling out of forms, missing information, and requesting forms for equipment that is needed for the position. Sales – Sales has multiple documents that are important to the company, yet still rely on paper-based processes to move through companies. Sales Packets – These are the lifeblood for any organization with sales teams. Most of the documents are still paper based. Even though companies may be using digital signature capture to get docs signed, they are still internally processing it using paper-based workflows. Customer Documents – These are previous deals, correspondence, proposals, and more. Typically, these documents are kept either paper-based or digital. The real challenge is whether paper-based or digital, trying to find the right document can be a challenge. With CRM’s, you cannot use keyword searching to locate documents. This can be a challenge if you are looking for specific documents that you may not have all the information on, or if it was mistakenly put in the wrong place. In keeping with the theme of keeping docs digital, next blog will go over some ideas and best practices in order to digitize current workflows within your organization. Contact us today to learn more about document digitization! Author: Tom Hubler, Technical Solutions Consultant at Boring
How to Digitize Your Documents and Best Practices
Document digitization is the future of document storage for companies that want to be ahead of the curve. Work from home and hybrid work environments do not allow for traditional file storage as most companies now know it. Rising rents and flexible work schedules are also accelerating this move to digitization with many companies. In this episode of the Boring Blog, we are going to go over the rules and best practices for document digitization. Rule 1 – Decide what would need to be digitized first: Many companies start by scanning / storing all their documents. Depending on how your retention policy is set up, you may just want to start with day forward and then look at what needs to be kept. Once you decide this, you’ll need to see if you have a scanner that can handle the volume of documents needing to be digitized. Typically, you can use a desktop scanner or copier / MFP. If the volume is too large for either of these devices, you may need to look at a dedicated high-speed scanner. You may even need to look at a 3rd party that specializes in this type of work if you do not have the manpower for the project available in-office. Rule 2 – Decide how you would like the documents indexed: Once you set up how these documents are going to be named, stick to it. If you take all the time to digitize your files, index fields make sure that you can find and identify those documents in your system. If you decide to outsource, they will ask you for these fields in advance to make sure the documents are indexed correctly. Rule 3 – Decide who needs to have access to the documents: If these documents need to be accessed by large numbers of people, you may want to look at a cloud-based software to store your documents rather than local storage. You may also want to look at this if you are worried about disaster recovery or if the documents in question are mission critical. Cloud-based document management systems are highly secure and easily accessible from a web browser or even a mobile device. They also save multiple copies of your documents in different data centers in case of disaster or accidental deletion. You can also set up rules regarding who can access documents and what they can do with them. Rule 4 – How to handle the old documents: Depending on your industry, a digital copy of a document is just as compliant as a paper one. If your industry requires paper, you then need to look at the retention schedule. With this in mind, you can then look at the retention schedule of your industry and decide if you need to keep or shred them after digitization. Once you have this answer to this question, you can set up the retention policy or just securely shred the documents. In the next Boring Blog, we are going to go over how you can keep digital documents digital and make them actionable with a cloud-based Document Management System. Contact us to learn more about our Document Management Solutions! Author: Tom Hubler, Technical Solutions Consultant at Boring
The Benefits of Document Digitization
Document digitization is the future of document storage for companies now and in the future. Work from home and hybrid work environments do not allow for traditional file storage as most companies now know it. Rising rents and flexible work schedules are also accelerating this move to digitization with many companies. Right now, companies are paying $25,000 to file a file cabinet and $2,000 a year to maintain that same cabinet. The average commercial office is using 50 to 70% of the floorspace just to store those documents. This doesn’t even begin to address the companies and government agencies that use off premises storage for their documents If you need to know what it is costing your company, you can use this chart to calculate: Paper Costs = Monthly Paper Costs x 12 months File Storage Costs = Number of Filing Cabinets x 16 sq. ft. x Cost per sq. ft. of Office Space Third-Party Storage Costs = Monthly Rent x 12 months Printing Costs = Printer Rental Price + Annual Printer Maintenance Fees + Monthly Ink Cost x 12 months Printer Costs: If you purchased your printers, check your records to average their yearly cost. Print-Related Labor Costs = Labor Hours Spent Managing Paper x Average Hourly Wage x Number of Workdays per Year After you look at the cost of this to your office, you may then have to look at another aspect of paper files, accessibility. With work-from-home and hybrid environments, your workers may not be able to access the documents that they need to perform their jobs effectively. This means lower productivity and higher costs to process tasks for your company. Digitization can be easy if done right. Scanning documents into a traditional Windows folder structure could lead to more confusion and misplaced files if there is not a simple and effective way to retrieve those files when needed. This is where a Content Management System or Document Management System comes into play. These systems allow for full text search and a more structured system for filing and retrieving those documents. Bonus, they are typically cloud based, which means that they can be accessed anywhere with a secure log-in and you do not have to worry about the extra burden on your IT infrastructure. Contact us to help make your office more efficient, streamlined and productive! Author: Tom Hubler, Technical Solutions Consultant at Boring
The Best Practices for Automating Your Office
Dismantling information silos and giving employees easy access to the knowledge they need to drive processes and complete projects is a key objective of any office automation initiative. With the right tools, your organization can unlock the value of information assets, boost employee collaboration and eliminate complicated, broken workarounds for processes. The discovery process that kicks off office automation efforts identifies bottlenecks and highlights how reengineering paper-based processes is necessary for your business to grow. This can also help get you faster buy-in from your peers. Consider this before you start Workflow automation will help you meet information management challenges in both practical and innovative ways. If you take these 10 steps into consideration when making your digital transformation, you will already be miles ahead of your competition. 1. Define the business rules that underlie each workflow process These guidelines describe company policies and procedures and can always be expressed in “either or” questions such as “yes or no” or “true or false.” For example, a business rule might say that if a customer is already in the system (true), they get a 10% discount. If the customer is not in the system (false) they get a 20% discount. 2. Consider the document lifecycle What initiates the process — an email, a phone call, an electronic form, a paper form, a letter that comes in the mail or a walk-in? What is the first action you take with the information? Who is involved in the process? Does the document require review or approval? Is integration with another system or ERP necessary? Is there a mandatory retention schedule for the document? If so, how long do you have to keep it in your archive? 3. Use a process-mapping tool like the free DocuWare Process Planner If you want to plan and optimize your processes, it is crucial to visualize them. Quickly design your processes and workflow and share them with your colleagues. The Process Planner can be used independently without a DocuWare system. 4. Harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) Optical Character Recognition (OCR) templates are a useful tool, but they have limits. Advanced software, such as DocuWare Intelligent Indexing, takes it further and uses AI to automatically process documents when data fields like invoice numbers and company names are in different places on the document depending on the supplier. The software can scan electronic and paper documents for key terms and convert that information into searchable indexed data. 5. Use version control Version control ensures that documents maintain their original integrity so that you don’t have to worry about managing multiple paper copies or having multiple electronic copies edited by different people offline. You can also make sure that everyone who makes changes to a document is working with the most current version. Older versions can be viewed in the version history which also shows the version numbers, the status, the storage date, any comments, and the user who saved the document. 6. Specify substitution rules to assign tasks to groups rather than to one person Then tasks can be automatically assigned to the first employee who currently has free capacity. At the same time, managers can monitor the processing of the workflows. Substitution rules can also reassign tasks when a team member is out of the office. 7. Use barcodes to speed up the indexing of paper documents If you attach a barcode to the first page of every document that should be grouped together, you can scan all your documents in one batch. Each new barcode identifies a new document type. In addition, they separate documents when scanning and when importing large batches of documents. For example, if you receive a lot of invoices that you would like to scan and store in one step, you can use a barcode to identify the invoice number field and send every invoice to a specified folder to be reviewed and approved. 8. Automate import Use automated import to send documents to a monitored folder from which they can be automatically and correctly stored. This is particularly useful when you are using network scanners or ERP software that create many PDF documents. Automated import is beneficial for companies that process large volumes of documents. 9. Follow consistent naming conventions across the organization Stick to a consistent method for naming files and folders. Use broad headings for folders rather than getting too specific. Paying attention to this detail will increase searchability. 10. Use an automated related documents feature Linking documents that are part of the same business process can be done easily by creating a common data field. Associated documents can then be retrieved in one click. Contact us to help make your office more efficient, streamlined and productive! Source: DocuWare Blog, Joan Honig
Reimagining Business Collaboration
When all your employees are under the same roof, getting the group together to brainstorm ideas and solve big problems is an issue of packing all the people into the same conference room. But when your employees are spread across a city, country, or even the entire globe, how do you pull everyone together to collaborate? Technology has made the physical location of employees irrelevant to their productivity level—we can now access all corporate tools outside the office. But in the process of making it easier to recruit the best talent regardless of their proximity to the physical building that the company is housed in, we lost something that is inherent to the productivity of the entire workforce: the ability to work together as a single unit. ZAC, the newest member of the Zultys family of product, is a tool designed to help employees connect. By bringing all the functionality necessary to work together into a single application, you can put all your best brains into the same conference room—it just won’t be a physical room anymore. The possibilities are endless and the integration between the various methods of communication is infinite. A powerful team chat functionality hosts all the employees working on the same project in the same virtual conference room, and when conveying the ideas across with written correspondence becomes too difficult, getting all the employees together on a conference call doesn’t require trying to remember different phone numbers or emails to send the meeting invite to. All the contact info employees need is right there at their convenience, so that they can put their minds to use doing their job without wasting precious time on figuring out how to get in touch with their coworkers. Set up smaller collaboration hubs for more private conversation, accessible to only the people invited to this discussion, while more expansive projects can be discussed by huge groups. And on top of that, you still have access to all the call handling and call management functionality that have made Zultys Unified Communication Platform indispensable at corporations across the globe. ZAC specializes in enhancing productivity, by combining all methods of communication into a single application, one that is both intuitive and versatile and able to support the communication needs of any business. Technology is supposed to be making our lives easier, so make your business communication technology work for you! And ZAC is here to connect you and your employees together, to make tackling your hardest projects as easy as it would be if you were all sitting around that old conference room table. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you reimagine collaboration in your office! Source: Zultys Blog, Lina
Common Cybersecurity Threats for Small to Medium Sized Businesses
October marks the beginning of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a month-long campaign to raise awareness of the need for a collective and proactive approach to cybersecurity. The campaign comes when the threat to businesses is greater than ever. According to the FBI, since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes, with a majority targeted at small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs). This increase is likely due to the global shift to remote work, with employees accessing company infrastructure from their home network and IT teams maintaining it remotely. Common Threat Vectors for SMBs A threat vector is a pathway or method used by an attacker to access the target system. These attackers can then steal data, information, or money from individuals or businesses by exploiting these vulnerabilities and gaining access to the system, such as the company’s IT infrastructure or employee’s email). Once they gain access, they are able to remotely control the IT infrastructure, install malware or ransomware, or steal data and other resources. Weak or Compromised Credentials Bad actors obtaining access to user credentials is one of the most common ways for cybercriminals to access target systems. There are several ways for them to obtain these credentials, such as when users fall victim to phishing attempts and provide their usernames and passwords to authentic-looking websites or use common/weak passwords that can be easily guessed. However, it is not only users who can have their passwords compromised. Network devices and servers also have credentials that can be compromised, where one compromised server can allow machine-machine movement throughout the network. To help avoid this risk, make sure that effective password policies are in place to avoid weak/common passwords and usernames, and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the possibility of breaches. Malicious Insiders A malicious insider is usually an unhappy employee who aims to sabotage or damage the organization that they work for. This type of threat is particularly difficult to protect against as employees need access to critical systems and sensitive data in order to operate the business. An employee with bad intentions can potentially disrupt business operations with actions such as deleting critical data or backup or providing secret information to a competitor. To try to mitigate this threat, limit access to critical systems to a minimum number of employees, monitor data and network access, and keep frequent backups of critical infrastructure Phishing Emails & Ransomware Phishing is a tactic used by cybercriminals to gain access to users’ credentials, banking details or to convince users to download potentially malicious malware or ransomware onto their machines. Many phishing emails share common features, such as attention-grabbing offers and statements, portraying a sense of urgency, and unexpected attachments. Even attachments with familiar file types should not be clicked on unless the authenticity of the sender is known, as it may contain viruses like ransomware. Ransomware is a growing concern for SMBs. Not only is ransomware becoming more and more prevalent, but the ransom to be paid is increasing as well. There are numerous ways ransomware can infect a system, from phishing attacks that depend on user error to more targeted attacks that depend on exploiting vulnerabilities in a business’s network. In the fight against ransomware, it is important to keep operating systems and applications patched and up-to-date to minimize vulnerabilities—install proper antivirus software and implement a solution for business continuity to quickly failover in case of a ransomware attack. Focusing on Cyber Resilience It is almost impossible to eliminate these attack vectors completely. As user error is a large component of all these common threat vectors, cybersecurity measures alone are not enough. Implementing a proper cyber resilience strategy to quickly and effectively recover from attacks is the only way to ensure that your business does not become the victim of a cybercrime. Datto’s Unified Continuity solutions can enhance your cyber resilience strategy by providing point-in-time restores to quickly recover and minimize downtime from events like disasters, malicious insiders, and ransomware. Interested in learning more about our Cybersecurity solutions? Give us a call or shoot us a message here: https://boring.com/contact-us/ Source: Nina Novak, Datto Blog
Is your business ready for Cloud Print Management?
How do you know if your business is suited to cloud print management? If you’re a smaller business, whether you want to track and manage or enable your printing, you have more options than running a print server on-premise. You can now manage your printing in the public cloud. But how do you know you’re suited to serverless printing? What’s the checklist? Oh you better believe that’s a hackneyed set-up for a listicle! 4 signs you’re ready for print management in the cloud 1. You’re already in the public cloud More specifically, you’re already using the public cloud for most of your organization’s work. Many SMB workplaces don’t start up with server racks for their data storage. They outsource to Google Drive or Dropbox. Likewise with the various software-as-a-service (SaaS) business applications found in the likes of Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. For these workplaces, it makes sense to also utilize cloud print management solutions. No point in just having a print server if all the rest of your work needs are satisfied by cloud-based software. 2. You’re new to print management For years you’ve had one MFP or a couple of small A4 printers used by a handful of employees in a modestly sized office. You know who’s coming and going, you know who’s printing what, you’re not printing anything more confidential than regular office documents. You’ve never felt the need for print tracking and monitoring. Especially when considering it means you have to shell out more cash for a print server and ongoing IT maintenance. Well, now is your time to dip your toe in the water. COVID-19 has accelerated adoption of cloud services for a variety of business worktools and print management is no exception. With cloud print management, you’re not purchasing any additional equipment or budgeting for resources – it removes the print server from the equation. That means no ongoing maintenance costs – that’s all-inclusive in the cloud print management SaaS model. Once upon a time, there was a barrier to print management for businesses that couldn’t justify the expenditure on infrastructure. That’s no longer the case with cloud print management solutions. 3. You’re embracing hybrid/remote working Covid-19 forced a change to professional life that was well overdue: you can be just as productive (if not more) working from home. Since undertaking remote working out of necessity during the pandemic, many businesses worldwide are adopting hybrid working models with a split between office and home working. With workers now coming and going from the office, this redefines many a workplace’s approach to printing. For end-users, sometimes they’ll need to press print in one location and collect their job at another. For IT teams and sysadmins, they require the ability to manage and track printing remotely and on location. With cloud print management and enablement, end-users can juggle between printing at home or the office. Similarly, sysadmins and IT staff can manage printing flexibly. 4. You’re an early tech adopter Print management in the public cloud isn’t new, but it’s still a maturing technology. It will take some time before cloud-native solutions reach the same feature-set and embedded functionality as on-prem and private hosted print management solutions. But for those futurists out there who love getting their hands on new technologies, cloud-native print management is your moment. Remember how smug your Gen Z coworker was when they were early on the TikTok hype train? That could be you! Interested in learning more about our Document Management solutions? Give us a call or shoot us a message here: https://boring.com/contact-us/ Source: Papercut Blog
What is Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery?
What Is Business Continuity? Business continuity is the process, policies, and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of business infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-induced disaster. Whether the business is small or a global enterprise you need to know how you can keep going under any circumstances. Business Continuity Vs Disaster Recovery Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity. While business continuity involves planning for keeping all aspects of a business functioning in the midst of disruptive events, disaster recovery focuses on the IT or technology systems that support business functions. A Complete Disaster Recovery Solution A proper business continuity solution should proactively protect clients’ systems and data against disasters of all type. An MSP should offer a business continuity solution that can rescue businesses and get them back online within minutes of any of these disasters: Hardware and software failures Natural disasters Unintentional human error or malicious actions Ransomware and other cybersecurity threats What to Look for in a Business Continuity a Solution? Here are some more key things to consider when looking for a solution: Hybrid cloud backup: A hybrid approach fixes the vulnerabilities that a cloud-only or local-only possess. Superior RTO and RPO: Think in terms of business continuity rather than simply backup, and calculate how much downtime your business can endure and still survive (RTO) as well as how much data you can afford to lose (RPO). Image-based backup: Make sure that the backup solution takes images of all data and systems rather than simply copying the files. Interested in learning more about our Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Solutions? Give us a call or shoot us a message here: https://boring.com/contact-us/ Source: Datto Blog
How to handle compromised credentials
You’ve just discovered there are compromised employee credentials or other sensitive data of your company exposed and available on the Dark Web. The reality is, once exposed on the Dark Web, your information cannot ever be completely removed or hidden. You cannot file a complaint or contact a support line to demand your data be removed. Your company should immediately start taking appropriate steps and measures to correct or minimize the risks and potential damages associated with this exposed data. Identify, understand and learn from past mistakes or failures, and adopt a more proactive and preventative approach to your business’ cybersecurity strategies moving forward. Sound the Alarms Important Business Alert Alert all employees, top to bottom, of the compromised data and explain or educate them about the Dark Web. Review individual compromises with critical users. Explain specific threats and risks – both to the business and potentially, the user Establish/update strict password policies and review and share with users. Retire old and exposed passwords Define what a strong password is and implement a password construction policy Make different passwords for each business account mandatory and keep personal ones separate Determine a schedule for routine password changes Change passwords Change passwords for exposed logins – all accounts using the compromised passwords Replace with unique passwords for each account Change/refresh any passwords older than six months Cybersecurity Best Practices to Proactively Protect Your Business Implement Multi-Factor Authentication Even the strongest and most complex passwords won’t protect you if they have been compromised and exposed on the Dark Web. Requiring users to verify who they say they are via two or more unique security factors will virtually eliminate more than half the threats and risks associated with exposed user credentials. Consider Single Sign On (SSO) and Password Management Solution The combined benefits of a Secure SSO and Password Management platform will enable your entire workforce to adapt and thrive in a security-first environment while reducing password frustration and fatigue for users and empowering increased productivity. Ongoing Security Awareness Training for Users Users continue to be the weakest link in security for businesses worldwide. This is often due to genuine ignorance regarding security best practices and a lack of knowledge or awareness of common threats and risks. Establish ongoing security awareness training for all users and turn your weakest link into your strongest security defense. Perform Regular Risk Assessments A comprehensive audit of your business infrastructure and systems will inevitably reveal vulnerabilities and security gaps within your network, applications or on your devices. Performing regular assessments will allow you to stay in the know and enable you to achieve and maintain a more preventative approach to security, often eliminating issues or problems before they arise. Proactively Monitor for Breaches and Cyber Threats Cyber threats continue to increase and evolve, and hardware and software vulnerabilities are discovered regularly, exposing your business to a steady barrage of security risks. To adopt a proactive and preventative approach to cybersecurity, your business must have visibility and insight into both internal and external activities, trends and threats to the network and data. Back Up Everything It is imperative that you ensure your business and customer data is protected and secured against any incident or disaster such as system failure, human error, hackers, ransomware and everything in between. In addition, make sure you explore the importance of accessibility and consider investing in business continuity as part of your backup strategies. Invest in Cyber Insurance Sometimes things do not work out no matter how much effort you put into them. As a business, you must do everything right. However, a hacker only needs a single gap or weak point in your security systems to slip past your defenses like a trojan horse. Every business in operation today needs cyber liability insurance to protect their business when all else fails. Don’t wait until you are the next news headline or statistic. Contact us today to start implementing the comprehensive security solutions your business deserves.
Are your credentials in the Dark Web?
Digital credentials are at risk 39% of adults in the U.S. use the same or very similar passwords for multiple online services, which increases to 47% for adults ages 18-29. Passwords are a twentieth-century solution to a twenty-first century problem. Unfortunately, usernames and passwords are all that stands between your employees and vital online services. A good security practice is to use a completely different password for every service. How are credentials compromised? Phishing – Send emails disguised as legitimate messages. Malvertising – Inject malware into legitimate online advertising networks. Watering Holes – Target a popular social media, corporate intranet. Web Attacks – Scan Internet-facing company assets for vulnerabilities. How does a hacker use credentials? Send spam from compromised email accounts. Deface web properties and host malicious content. Install malware on compromised systems. Compromise other accounts using the same credentials. Exfiltrate sensitive data (data breach) Identity theft Data is sold at auction For those who make credentials available on the Dark Web, the financial rewards can be significant. A criminal dealing in stolen credentials can make tens of thousands of dollars from buyers interested in purchasing them. And by selling those credentials to multiple buyers, organizations that experience a breach of credentials can easily be under digital assault from dozens or even hundreds of attackers. The numbers are staggering The average number of data records per company, including credentials, compromised during a data breach is 28,500! Protecting against compromise While there is always a risk that attackers will compromise a company’s systems through advanced attacks, the fact is that most data breaches exploit common vectors such as known vulnerabilities, unpatched systems and unaware employees. Only through defense in depth – implementing a suite of tools such as security monitoring, data leak prevention, multifactor authentication, improved security awareness and others – can organizations protect their credentials and other digital assets from seeping onto the Dark Web. We keep you out of the Dark Web Small businesses need Dark Web Monitoring for today’s cybersecurity risk. Protect your business and secure your assets. We make Dark Web Monitoring affordable enough for small businesses to take advantage of enterprise-level actionable intelligence. Contact us to learn more about our Dark Web Monitoring services.
