How many of your employees understand the concept of data archiving and how it is important to the management of a business? When this sort of topic is discussed in the workplace, employees will nod and murmur in agreement. But do they understand what this means for the business and what implications it might have in the future?
Archiving is the process of storing inactive information and saving it for future use. Cloud document management software can help businesses store active and inactive information. It is important to note that archived data can still be accessed if required at short notice. It is the misconception that archived data can no longer be accessed that prevents businesses from successfully and effectively storing inactive files.
But why is archiving important? Why couldn’t businesses simply store inactive data much like how they store active information? How does archiving give better control over the business operations?
Preventing Data Loss
When employees work on a project, they store the files and information locally on their computers. Once the project is finalized, the data should be transferred to a secure and central location. If not, breach and loss of data may happen. It is quite possible that your employees would not pose problems in terms of access to data. However, there is also a huge possibility that the information will be lost in the sea of files that is usually saved in the local hard drive.
Also, your employees may accidentally delete the information. Or, in the worst-case scenario, an erring employee may take revenge on a company and delete these important files. Of course, data retention is possible, but you would have to hire a third-party service provider and let them in on your system.
Keeping for Legal Purposes
Archiving is also a critical component of the legal requirements of operating a business. So many businesses accidentally delete files that they should be kept for legal purposes. How many years’ worth of income tax returns should a business keep? Generally speaking, a business should keep about three years of income tax returns. But to make sure that you have all the important files with you, a business should archive income tax returns as far back as they can. You never know when a problem suddenly crops up, and you have to review your tax information.
Improving Security
Cyberattacks and data breaches are more common now than they were a decade ago. Since hackers can get into your system pretty easily, you need to archive important documents and files so that they are stored away from your main computer’s local hard drive. This keeps important documents away from the prying eyes of hackers and scammers. Most importantly, you should do this for your clients’ information. You can use archiving to store client information securely.
Archiving is a vital business process. It makes your business competitive and helps it perform better. You should find an archiving and Cloud management system that will fit the demands of your business.
