Records in the News - Privacy

There is one issue that is at the core of GRM Document Management's business. It's at the core of our customers' businesses and it's at the core of our customers' customers' concerns...privacy.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has apparently admitted he doesn't believe in privacy. The revelation came from a tweet from a New York Times tech blogger, Nick Bilton. He attributed the quote to an off the record chat with a Facebook employee.

If it's true, I find it a little ironic that Zuckerberg's apparent invasion of privacy came via a social networking site.

It's doubtful that many people will remove their Facebook accounts after reading this. According to Facebook statistics, the site has about 400 million active users, more than the population of the entire US. For millions of people, the site is a social and or business necessity.

There are steps everyone can make to protect their privacy, even on Facebook. As a general rule of thumb, don't post anything you wouldn't want your boss, your mother, your neighbor or your local prison convict to know. Go to your privacy settings and make absolutely everything private. This won't prevent Facebook from selling your hobbies, likes and dislikes, but it will limit the amount of information that's floating out in cyberspace.

Like Facebook, GRM Document Management is a repository of information. Unlike, Facebook, protecting our customers' privacy is our number one priority. Our customers' data is disguised, either by digital encryption or by bar coded boxes. Our centers have the industry's strictest security equipment and procedures. Our personnel are required to be background checked and to have random drug tests. Our customers' privacy is guaranteed.

Iron Mountain Net Income Down

There are many signs that the economy is in recovery mode, but news today was mixed for our industry. Iron Mountain, the world's largest records management company, saw a decrease in net income of 11% for the first quarter of the year. Much of the decrease is being attributed to a higher tax rate. Revenues were actually up 7%.

Overall, I think the news is good for GRM Document Management and for our industry. The fact that revenues were up speaks volumes. Companies are generating more records and are taking steps to secure their records, both paper and digital, by moving them offsite.

Top 10 Excuses For Not Considering Document Management This Year - Excuse 1

The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), is one of the industry's leading organizations. They are non-profit and independent. They have produced 10 videos that outline the Top 10 Excuses for Not Considering Document Management. Over the next 10 weeks, I will be showing one of these videos per week, on Wednesday.

At GRM Document Management, we know the value of our services. We know that we offer both cost savings and increased records security. We know that our customers will confirm it. We also know that potential clients have legitimate concerns. Records are the lifeblood of a company. Outsourcing their management can mean a shift in the mindset of management and of employees. GRM Document Management will make the transition painless, but sometimes the value can be difficult to convey. Thankfully, AIIM has done a wonderful job of showing value while remaining objective.

Outsourcing Your Records

Outsourcing your records management program can sound like a scary prospect. A records manager naturally fears loss of control and loss of security. If chosen carefully, an offsite provider can actually increase control and security, while saving you time and money.

One particularly time and resource intensive process is converting paper documents to digital. According to NewsLive365.com

Taking on a document conversion project is way more than just scanning documents, and it is easily one of those projects that really do need to be outsourced at the onset and then handed over to the staff to maintain. The trick is:
1. Finding a reliable resource to select the right infrastructure to fit your document storage needs long term.
2. Knowing your new document management system will be easy to use and all key employees are trained thoroughly.
3. Having ALL of your existing documents scanned in verified in to the document management system so they can be found easily.
4. Have a clear system in place for maintaining the incoming documents in order to keep your company organized.

In related news, copiers, not just paper copies, are security risks. Copiers, like computers, have hard drives. Like a computer, the hard drive needs to be scrubbed before sale or disposal.

For demonstration purposes, CBS purchased four used, discarded machines:
The results were stunning: from the sex crimes unit there were detailed domestic violence complaints and a list of wanted sex offenders. On a second machine from the Buffalo Police Narcotics Unit we found a list of targets in a major drug raid.

The third machine, from a New York construction company, spit out design plans for a building near Ground Zero in Manhattan; 95 pages of pay stubs with names, addresses and social security numbers; and $40,000 in copied checks.

But it wasn’t until hitting “print” on the fourth machine – from Affinity Health Plan, a New York insurance company, that we obtained the most disturbing documents: 300 pages of individual medical records.

Photocopy machine hard drives are supposed to be encrypted or wiped before resale, but obviously such is not being done. And, as CBS notes -

The day we visited the New Jersey warehouse, two shipping containers packed with used copiers were headed overseas – loaded with secrets on their way to unknown buyers in Argentina and Singapore.

Sony Ending Floppy Disk Production

What? They still make floppy disks? Sony is one of just a handful of companies that still produces the once popular storage device called a floppy disk. You probably remember them from their heyday of the 90s. They were a little square disk that you plugged into your computer. Their popularity has been replaced by much smaller and more portable USB memory sticks. Sony will permanently discontinue production in 2011.

If you still have a bunch of floppy disks laying around and you are the creative type, there are lots of fun things you can do.

Obsolete or not, floppy disks were once a pretty good storage device. They were durable and for the technology of the time, they held a lot of information. Unfortunately, times do change and so do storage formats.

Well, some storage formats never change. Unless humankind advances to the point where reading becomes obsolete (let's hope not for the sake of my career), paper records will never go out of style. GRM Document Storage has millions of square feet of storage space for paper records. The number of paper records has been increasing, not decreasing during the digital age.

The technology involved in storing paper has changed and that's why GRMIMS consistently invests in upgrades in security and software. Our exclusive eAccess Technology is a one of a kind data management system that allows you to find your files from any web enabled computer. Our security is unmatched in the industry. We have 24/7 patrols, alarmed doors, video surveillance and key card access. All of our employees are put through rigorous background checks and random drug tests.

Whether it's good old fashioned paper, the latest in electronic vaulting or even floppy disks, GRM Document Storage has the safest, most accessible and technology advanced storage solution in the industry.