‘Real time’ document management – by Tony Meikle

More and more companies are reducing their paper consumption and gradually moving toward becoming a paperless. Advances in technologies and data scanning mean that it’s becoming easier for organisations to minimise paper usage without sacrificing easy access and the safe keeping of their business information demands. Secure, web-based portals for example enable businesses to manage their records management programme in real time. They can provide real-time delivery requests and on-demand access to management reports as well as easy access to invoices. Records specialists such as Crown Records Management have investments in new technologies to help deliver customised solutions and ensure the safety and security of clients’ business information. Crown has a national and global network of state-of-the-art management centres that provide secure storage solutions and information access for all types of businesses. Clients can benefit from integrated, real-time systems, and secure, real-time access in client-customised formats. RMi, Records Management invoicing, provides clients with real-time access to their invoices. It provides online access to new invoices, invoice history and payment status in various languages and formats. Clients can approve invoices for payment and run historical reports. The RMi tool pulls related raw data together into one, easy-to-read invoice that is protected and easily accessible, ensuring you will always have the information you are looking for. Access to all of the information is granted via an online portal where any invoice produced can be retrieved without the need to print a single piece of paper. Crown also provides an electronic hosting service – Crown Image Access. Electronic files are uploaded to a server enabling clients to download and view them as TIFs, PDFs, JPGs or any format they choose. The images can be accessed via a standard desktop internet browser. With RMhost clients can log in to a secure password-protected website, search and sort their files into indexed fields and view individual documents from anywhere in the world, right from their own desktop. Crown Image Access is an off-site, electronic document storage solution, in an ultra secure repository that can hold every document ever produced by an organisation. The host is a secure transmission of data between companies and Crown through the use of 128-bit SSL (Secure Socket Layer). Implementing these tools ensures that valuable office space is freed-up, administration tasks are reduced and capital expenditure by outsourcing information management programmes will be avoided. As the hosts operate off-site, IT departments will be spared the burden of maintaining growing data storage. And most importantly employees will be able to access and share documents in ‘real time’ with the push of a button and remain focused on critical business operations. With Crown Records Management vital business information is continually protected and easily accessible, so the information you’re looking for is always at the tip of your fingers. The hosts are airtight and hosted on an internal network, inaccessible to anyone on the web – ensuring that the integrity of corporate information is never compromised. All communications, including log-ins, queries and results, pass through a secure, encrypted connection. The speed of technological advancements in the last few decades has been truly remarkable, but the speed of environmental attitude change has not. The concept of the “paperless” office may never become a reality, but we can easily take steps to work towards a “less paper” office. For further information about Crown Records Management services, please visit www.crownrms.com.