Document Management and Medicine

Secure and efficient document management is important for all businesses, but for medical facilities it can be a matter of life and death. If you're looking for a document management service for your medical practice or doctors office, there are a few thing to keep in mind before signing a contract.

First, make certain that the service employs the use of a digital archiving and retrieval service. The difference these systems make in speedy and accurate finding and delivery of your needed documents is remarkable.

Second, be positive that they offer 24 hour delivery. Medical work is an around the clock profession, and you can't afford a document management service that doesn't hold itself to the same standards. Finally, ask if the center is familiar with compliance regulations of HIPAA. These regulations are complicated, and finding a service that has a firm grasp on their finer points ensures you stay free from fines and lawsuits.

The Economist on the Paperless Office

The Economist ran a story a few weeks ago about how the paperless office has finally gone from a dream to a potential-reality. With the advent of the Internet, combined with new improvements to digital document management, data protection and eDiscovery plans - office managers may finally be at a point where they can rid themselves of their paper shackles. The article doesn't mention digital document management by name, but it's certainly a major factor in the changing workplace. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the piece is how young new workers are driving the trend.

As new generations of office workers leave university—where their class notes and syllabuses are online these days—they take their habits with them. They like digital information because it reduces clutter. It can be “tagged” and thus filed into many folders instead of just one physical file. It can be searched by keyword. It can be cut, pasted and remixed. It allows for easier collaboration, through features such as “track changes”. It can be shared across an ocean as easily as across a desk."

Successful Content Management

News Factor ran an article earlier this month discussing the merits of traditional records management with newer digital document management programs. Interestingly, the case study featured in the article focuses on one of GRM's main solution industries - Government Document Management. Following changes in records/document management in San Diego county, the case study gives the reader an inside look in how transitioning to a new program goes. From the start of the article:

"Recently, the County of San Diego RM underwent a major overhaul. The county combined its electronic document management (EDM) program with the RM program when it realized they had similar goals. The joint programs are now collectively referred to as the enterprise content management (ECM) program. This program directly affects all county departments and indirectly affects all county employees and the public."

To read the entire case study, please follow the link at the top of this post.

The Impact of the Electronic World

An article went up on Sci-Tech Today's website yesterday discussing the impact of the electronic world on the document and records management industry. The author methodically breaks down the massive changes brought about by the digital age and the advent of the computer and Internet - noting the gradual shift away from traditional off-site document management to more technologically advanced forms of the same idea like tape storage, scanning and archiving and eDiscovery.

According to the article:

"The amount of digital information to be managed is truly staggering. According to a March 2008 IDC white paper called The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe, the size of the digital universe in 2007 was 281 exabytes (1 exabyte = 1 billion gigabytes), and it is estimated the size of the digital universe by 2011 will be 10 times that figure. In The Sedona Principles: Best Practices Recommendations and Principles for Addressing Electronic Document Production, The Sedona Conference Working Group notes that compounding the management complexities is the fact that most information is being created in electronic form. "

Storing Media Safely

Keeping a back log of your company's important files and information is becoming more important with each passing year. Using an external hard drive is an easy and convenient way to back up all of the digital information in your office, but what is the point if a fire or natural disaster strikes your building? Keeping your backed up data in the same space as the original copies doesn't make sense, and document management centers provide a solution. Find a company that offers secure, off-site media vaults in which you may store older external hard drives and other back-up materials.

Our media storage is among the very best in the New York Tri-State. We're set-up to handle all forms of multi-media storage, and have proudly worked with production companies of all shapes and sizes. Our vaults not only offer the protection of being in a separate location, but also provide a far healthy environment for electronics than any office space. With computer controlled temperature and humidity and a minimal amount of dust and dirt - why would you trust your data to be stored anywhere else?