Do you have the right systems in place to protect sensitive records—especially if your industry has tough confidentiality regulations? No business owner, whether a High Street clothing store or big-city law firm, wants to have to call a client to say, “Your personal information has been stolen.” And if you’re in a business that’s subject to government or industry regulations, a breach can bring about investigations, fines, legal headaches and even criminal sanctions. Avoid these business-crippling events by collecting, managing, housing and protecting confidential data—paper-based or digital—with an industry-compliant information management program. Become a Policy Wonk The first thing to do is develop your information management policies. Though your company may already have confidentiality policies in place governing your records, the plan may be outdated. The days of merely dumping manila folders bursting with documents into the skip or tossing old mobile phones, disk drives and broken USB devices into black bin bags and leaving them in the back alleyway are long gone. Your new set of policies should: • Consider how rapid growth, doing business in new geographical locations or failing to address e-files may have curbed your plan’s effectiveness. • Pay serious attention to increasingly prevalent real-time data-retention practices and security measures. • Detail disposal methods for old files and unneeded information. For example, which paper files can you recycle, and which must you shred? • Account for the disposal of old disk drives that may hold data, even if they’ve been wiped. • Address data including tweets, Facebook posts and blog entries, including oft-overlooked communications stored on mobile devices. These are just as much of a record as your customer-service files or sales reports. Man Your Plan Though it might make sense to have an internal project manager supervise your plan, what happens if he or she gets seriously ill or just takes a weeklong trek to Machu Picchu, well out of mobile phone range? Brace your organization for these possibilities by designating another employee who’s just as skilled and knowledgeable about your policy and confidential data practices to jump in as needed. That is, if someone can spare the time. Remember, you won’t need to develop such contingencies if you team with an outside partner. Another management option: Set up a team of accountable staff who monitor the company’s compliance levels and assist employees who need advice about proper data management processes. Become a Master Builder Once policies are in place, it’s time to build and implement your overall information management plan. Trojan Document Solutions recommend a six-step strategy: organize, assess, develop, implement, manage and audit. Prioritise tasks, and then phase them in. For example, you may delve into current data storage requirements only to find that tapes should be supplemented with other technology to meet a certain regulatory rule. It’s easiest to do such things as you build a plan rather than after the system is built. It also helps in maintaining a project’s true cost accounting. Done? Move Forward The “work” never really ends when the topic is confidential data management. Ongoing tasks include: • Testing controls and protections • Conducting random checks to ensure that your office and its third-party partners are employing proper file disposal techniques Keeping the Faith, Every Day Review and update your data retention, storage and management efforts at least once and preferably twice a year. It’s also wise to run a few what-if scenarios to determine whether everything is working well. By taking this ongoing management approach, you’ll know that your business can respond to and meet legal and regulatory demands when and if they crop up. And just as important, you can assure your customers and clients that their confidential information is in good hands. Do you have more questions about your firm’s records management options? Contact Trojan Document Solutions’ consulting services team. You’ll be connected with a knowledgeable product and services specialist who can address your information management challenges.