Digital Archiving– See What it is and its Benefits.

Digital archiving– See What it is and its Benefits.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the world has entered a digital revolution where digital tools and apps are used extensively. Every business is totally or partially dependent on digital information, which has become a more critical asset for companies. 

To correctly manage this digital information throughout its entire lifecycle, appropriate organizational and technical measures are required. Even if organizations use to capture and ECM solutions to collect information, they often forget about the last step in the lifecycle: digital archiving.

What does digital Archiving mean?

In the “paper world,” most companies reduce filing to their simplest solution: storing paper in the basement or offices. As the paper is slowly deteriorating, we can assume that long-term readability has been guaranteed and that the integrity of the documents can be easily proven.

Due to the rapid evolution of technology and its rapid obsolescence, information integrity and readability of digital archives have become crucial. This requires technical and organizational measures to ensure the preservation of information.

Following international standards such as ISO 14721 or ISO 16175, a decent digital archiving solution will help your business eliminate paper files and allow you to access your information quickly.

Features of Digital Archiving:

• A decent digital archiving solution requires several features, such as:
• Convert files to a long-term preservation format;
• Describe archived information;
• Document the information preservation lifecycle and operation;
• Check the validity of the data;
• Ensuring long-term integrity;
• Manage the retention and disposition period;
• Monitor file format and storage solution.

The requirements’ purpose is to preserve your information’s legal and financial value. 

A legal framework obliges companies to preserve a variety of documents, such as social documents, HR documents, and accounting, and be able to prove their authenticity and integrity. 

Finally, it’s worth remembering that the purpose of a digital archiving solution is to preserve legal value and manage the risk of a claim or lawsuit.

Considerations about the Digital Archiving:

Digital archiving seems to be an arduous task. However, there are different things to consider when counting memories and items that you have determined should be kept for archival purposes. 

• Obsolescence: With advances in technology, storage media comes and goes. Remember floppy disks? As such, updating your digital archive is a vital part of your digital archiving policy;
• Metadata: This is a critical component in digital archiving. Without it, or enough of it, you’ll have trouble finding the data you want when trying to recover it;
• Define what is for a digital archive;
• Corruption of information;
• Loss of information (hard drive, SD card, etc.);
• Authenticity and integrity of data;
• In-house or outsourced?
• Security and Access.

Is it Possible to Scan any Documents?

Yea! Nowadays, you can turn any document into a digital Archive. In addition, different means of certification and digital signatures can also attribute the same paper validity to the digitized file.

Why Digitize?

It is not difficult to find companies nowadays that have opted for document scanning. When you do that, you exchange tons of papers for organized and easily accessible virtual folders.

So, imagine that before, you had to go through dozens of drawers looking for information about your customers. All this now becomes a little folder on your PC with the name “clients.”

Finally, good document management is essential for any company, regardless of the segment. Stored documents always have some relevance, and keeping them safe and organized is fundamental.

What are the benefits of having Digital Archiving?

1. You will not lose data

Do you know why the world has switched from paper and parchment to information on the World Wide Web? 

Among its numerous benefits, one for sure is that you do not lose online data, as it always stays where it is until it is deliberately permanently removed.

Similar benefits can be derived from digital archiving. Your documents, which could be lost or even mishandled, are now safe and digitally archived, which is a massive relief for any business.

2. Data Confidentiality:

Hardcover paper data, in the form of files and documents, always risks being lost, destroyed, or stolen. This risks data confidentiality.

But by digitally archiving data on the worldwide network of PCs, you are reducing multiple risks. The risk may not be eliminated, but we cannot deny that it is well minimized.

3. Quick access to what you want

Have you been to a bookstore recently? First, you look for a book, and when you can’t find it, you ask at the counter. But the counterman doesn’t go to the shelves to find your book; he goes to the operating PC and looks up its location in the chart.

Finally, this is an example of how digital data archiving can give you quick access to your files, important documents, and more.

4. Be Economically Efficient

Digital Archiving system is much more cost-effective because, as discussed in the second point, they help you save a lot on paper and office supplies.

What else? Do you realize how much you spend transporting hard copies of data from one location to another? This is one of those costs you don’t know you’re incurring but silently empty your pocket.

Once the data is online, you don’t need to transport it manually or physically; you can access the data from anywhere in the world with just one click.

 In addition, it also reduces the time investment in locating the data. Physical data storage will cost a lot of time, and remember, while lost money can be recovered, the lost time has no substitute.

5. Easy recovery

Once a paper file passes through the shredder, it is gone forever. There is no way back. But when the data is online, firstly, there will probably be no need to delete a file due to the considerable space available, and secondly, even if there is, chances are you can get it back.

Also, physical files can be lost by mistake, but after digital archiving, the system usually checks with the owner before taking action.

7. Simpler to manage

You’ll have to be doubly careful if you plan on preserving your paperwork. Paper quality deteriorates over time. 

That way, you’ll have to store them in the best condition to ensure they don’t fade or break. All this is difficult as paper preservation is impossible without using various chemicals.

 Also, if it’s not about saving documents, you’ll still have to manage them well. If you have papers of different sizes, you must trim them to file them. 

Otherwise, you will still have to laminate, punch, and preserve them well to protect your data. But this is not the case with digital archiving.

 That way, you must scan the documents, save them in the correct folders, and you’re done. Isn’t it much simpler?

Docbyte:

Docbyte provides digital archiving Solutions, intelligent document processing,  for banks, insurance companies, and other knowledge worker organizations. 

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