Archiving Essentials: Safeguarding Your Business' Future

In business, documents are produced and exchanged daily. Ensuring their security throughout their lifecycle and once they’ve been completed is paramount.

Terminating a document's active phase doesn’t diminish its importance but increases the significance of secure and responsible management.

This article provides everything you need to know about archiving, including its definition, benefits, types of documents that need archiving and technology's role in digital archiving. 

• What is archiving?

• Benefits of effective archiving
• What needs to be archived?
• Digital archiving of various documents
• Checklist for evaluating secure document archiving providers
• Integrating archiving into document management strategies

Document archiving involves securely preserving inactive business and legal documents while ensuring they can be retrieved instantly. The primary goal of document archiving is to maintain the accessibility, authenticity and integrity of information over time without holding onto documents digitally or on-premise.

Businesses in the UK are required to store their documents following regulations like the Companies Act, Data Protection Act and GDPR. These laws often mandate the retention of certain documents, including financial records, contracts, employment records and tax-related documents, for specific periods.

When we talk about archiving documents, we can refer to two categories:

While many businesses still work with paper documents, a pivotal step is taking place — we're seeing a shift from on-premise archives to dynamic digital repositories.

This revolutionises how organisations like yours preserve their wealth of information and highlights efficiency, accessibility and resilience.

Why are we moving towards digital archiving?

By embracing digital preservation's boundless potential, you chart a course toward a future where information knows no bounds and the legacy of knowledge endures eternally.

Space and efficiency

Gone are the days of corridors filled with towering shelves and cavernous filing cabinets.

With digital archives, the once-constrained boundaries of physical storage dissipate into the boundless expanse of virtual space.

Businesses can reclaim valuable real estate while optimising resource allocation. It also helps the move towards paperless office spaces and remote work following shifts in sustainability.

The compact nature of digital storage streamlines operations and fosters a culture of sustainability by reducing the environmental footprint associated with physical infrastructure.

Accessibility and searchability

In a digital format, information becomes seamlessly interconnected and effortlessly accessible to anyone with the correct permissions.

Digital archives empower users to navigate vast repositories with unprecedented speed and precision through intuitive indexing, robust search functionalities and remote retrieval capabilities.

Physical proximity constraints no longer exist, as stakeholders can easily harness the power of information from anywhere in the world at any time.

Preservation and longevity

Whereas physical archives are susceptible to decay due to the elements, their digital counterparts are known for their resilience and longevity.

Layers of encryption provide digital archives with the utmost security features, and organisations secure their data through meticulous backup strategies and disaster recovery protocols.

Security and protection

Information and data in the business world must be protected and comply with legal requirements and legislation.

Through robust encryption protocols, access controls and audit trails, digital archives produce barriers against unauthorised intrusion and manipulation.

By safeguarding data confidentiality, integrity and availability, they instil trust and confidence in their stakeholders while keeping information safe from cyber threats and vulnerabilities.

Adaptability and future-proofing

The world moves fast, and so the need for adaptability emerges.

Digital archives, with their flexibility and scalability, embrace adaptability, seamlessly accommodating evolving needs and necessities.

Through agile migration strategies and interconnected frameworks, you’re future-proofing your archives.

Document archiving is the cornerstone of a comprehensive data management strategy. It provides a structured approach to storing, organising and preserving critical documents throughout their lifecycle.

Effective archiving brings various benefits to your business, including:

Preserve valuable data

Documents keep your organisation running, so keeping them safe is a top priority.

Effective archiving safeguards your business' invaluable data by meticulously cataloguing and preserving documents and records. Keeping historical data enriches organisational memory and serves as a well of insights, guiding present decisions and shaping future strategies.

Adhere to compliance standards and legal requirements

Archiving protects organisations like yours from non-compliance by adhering to compliance standards and legal requirements, averting penalties, sanctions and legal challenges stemming from inadequate data management practices.

Effective archiving ensures that all data remains aligned with industry regulations, legislative mandates and contractual obligations regarding data management.

Archiving safeguards from regulatory risks by maintaining comprehensive records, enforcing retention policies and facilitating audit trails.

Ensure business continuity

Archiving documents offers various benefits besides staying compliant with legal regulations and centralising all documents.

Effective archiving is a solid wall against disruption, ensuring critical information remains accessible and intact if something goes wrong.

By securing data against loss, corruption or compromise, archiving minimises the consequences of unforeseen events, empowering them to navigate storms with poise and confidence.

Mitigate the risk of data loss

Efficient document archiving can lead to cost savings associated with reduced physical storage requirements, streamlined document retrieval processes and minimise risk of data loss. This is also true for avoiding fines for not staying compliant.

Archiving mitigates the risk of data loss through robust backup strategies, version control mechanisms and disaster recovery protocols.

Enhance operational efficiency and productivity

In addition to cost savings, archiving contributes to business continuity by backing up essential documents.

Organisations can recover critical information from the archive in the event of a disaster or data loss, minimising downtime and disruptions.

Archiving systems help meet customer service expectations and comply with SLAs by providing quick access to customer-related documents and records.

Archiving enhances operational efficiency, productivity and agility by streamlining document workflows through automation and facilitating efficient collaboration and knowledge sharing. It enables you to adapt and thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Make better business decisions

Having a historical record of activities can be invaluable for retrospective analysis, decision-making and learning from past experiences.

Effective archiving preserves data and empowers organisations to utilise insights, identify patterns and make informed decisions based on a comprehensive understanding of past events and trends.

By harnessing the power of data-driven decision-making, you can unlock new vistas of opportunity and innovation, driving sustainable growth and competitive advantage in a dynamic marketplace.

Businesses have a range of documents that require archiving, spanning from customer correspondence to financial reports.

This obligation is rooted in legal regulations that dictate the retention of tax-relevant documents, each with distinct retention periods.

For instance, accounting documents, annual financial statements and received business letters all have specific retention requirements of six years.

By archiving these documents, businesses fulfil regulatory obligations and ensure the preservation of critical information for future reference and compliance purposes.

• Legal documents: Contracts, agreements, certificates, compliance records and legal correspondence
• Financial documents: Invoices, receipts, financial statements, tax records and audit reports
• HR documents: Employee records, payroll records, performance evaluations, training materials, and HR policies and procedures
• Business correspondence: Emails, letters, memos and faxes
• Reports: Business reports, research reports, project proposals and feasibility studies
• Administrative documents: Policies and procedures, manuals, guidelines and standard operating procedures
• Customer and client records: Customer orders, client contracts, customer feedback and sales records
• Marketing and sales materials: Marketing plans, advertising materials, sales presentations, brochures and catalogues
• Intellectual property: Patents, trademarks, copyright registrations and licensing agreements
• Healthcare documents: Medical records, healthcare policies and procedures and patient records
• Educational records: Academic transcripts, student records and educational policies
• Project documents: Project plans, progress reports, meeting minutes and design documents
• Technical documents: Technical specifications, manuals and engineering and drawing documents
• Research and development documents: Research papers, lab reports and experiment data
• Event records: Event planning documents, attendee lists, event evaluations and GDPR consent
• Environmental and safety documents: Safety procedures and incident reports
• Historical and archive materials: Historical records
  
  

Read more in our blog post on Document Archiving

The importance of customising archiving strategies for different document types can’t be overstated to ensure efficient management, compliance and accessibility of their valuable information assets.

Scanning and digitising paper files is the first step in document archiving, but integrating intelligent document processing ensures seamless classification, data extraction, and workflow automation."

From invoices to contracts, receipts, emails, records and PDFs, each document category holds unique significance and requires specific handling to ensure effective preservation and accessibility.

Here's why tailoring digital archiving strategies to these diverse document types is crucial.

Invoices

Invoices are vital financial records that document transactions between businesses and their customers.

Tailoring archiving strategies for invoices involves organising them chronologically, categorising them by client or project and ensuring compliance with tax regulations for retention periods.

This facilitates easy retrieval during audits and financial analysis.

Contracts

Contracts form the backbone of business agreements, outlining the parties' rights, responsibilities and obligations.

Archiving contracts involve version control, metadata tagging for critical terms and secure storage to maintain confidentiality.

This ensures quick reference for contract renewals, disputes or renegotiations.

Receipts

Receipts are evidence of transactions, purchases or expenses incurred by the business.

Customising receipt archiving strategies includes digitising paper receipts, categorising by expense type and integrating with accounting software for reconciliation.

This streamlines expense tracking, budgeting and tax preparation processes.

Emails

Emails are a widely used communication tool in business, often containing critical information and attachments.

Archiving emails requires categorisation by sender, recipient or topic, with metadata indexing for easy search and retrieval. Compliance with data privacy regulations and retention policies is essential to mitigate risks associated with email data breaches.

Records

Records encompass many documents, including employee records, HR policies, meeting minutes and project documentation.

Tailoring archiving strategies for records involves establishing hierarchical folder structures, assigning access permissions based on roles and implementing version control to track document changes over time.

This ensures efficient record management and regulatory compliance.

PDFs

PDFs are versatile document formats for various purposes, such as reports, manuals and presentations.

Archiving PDFs involves metadata tagging for content classification, text extraction for indexing and encryption for data security.

This enables seamless integration with document management systems and facilitates collaboration among stakeholders.

Partnering with a document archiving vendor allows you to focus on their core competencies and strategic priorities by offloading the complex and time-consuming task of document management and archiving to experts in the field.

Outsourcing document management to a vendor allows you to free up time and resources to invest in activities that drive value and growth.

Here are some reasons why people turn to document archiving vendors:

• Expertise and experience: Document archiving vendors specialise in managing and preserving documents efficiently and securely. They often have extensive experience and expertise in implementing best practices, ensuring compliance with regulations and optimising document management workflows
• Cost efficiency: Outsourcing document archiving to a vendor can be cost-effective compared to maintaining an in-house archiving infrastructure. Vendors typically offer scalable solutions that allow organisations to pay for the services they need without the overhead costs associated with hardware, software and maintenance.
• Scalability and flexibility: Document archiving vendors offer scalable solutions that can grow with the organisation's needs. Whether the organisation needs to archive a few documents or millions of records, vendors can provide the necessary infrastructure and support to accommodate varying levels of demand
• Advanced technology: Document archiving vendors invest in advanced technology and infrastructure to ensure the security, accessibility and integrity of archived documents. They often offer features such as encryption, redundancy, version control and audit trails that may be difficult or costly to implement in-house
• Compliance and risk management: Document archiving vendors specialise in ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and mitigating risks associated with document management. They stay up-to-date with changing regulations and industry standards, helping organisations avoid fines, penalties and legal challenges
• Focus on core competencies: Outsourcing document archiving allows organisations to focus on their core competencies and strategic priorities rather than allocating resources to non-core functions. Organisations can free up time and resources to invest in activities that drive value and growth by offloading document management to a vendor.

With specialised expertise, cost efficiencies, advanced technology, compliance assurance and the ability to focus on core competencies, partnering with a document archiving vendor can be a strategic decision that contributes to improved operational efficiency and organisational effectiveness.

Before selecting document archiving software, ensure it meets the following criteria to best meet your security, compliance and data protection requirements.

Does the software…

1. Allow access through a unique username and password?
2. Send data between components using HTTPS instead of HTTP?
3. Allow document access on an individual, group and job role level?
4. Provide government-level, 256-bit encryption for all documents?
5. Conduct regular data backups?
6. Archive or store data within the company's sovereign borders?
7. Have at least two layers of data redundancy to allow for business continuity?
8. Offer data separation to keep customer data private?
9. Offer built-in mechanisms to protect data against viruses and malware?
10. Provide specific workflows so you can enforce retention policies?
11. Ensure you meet specific information handling compliance standards such as GDPR?
12. Help you retain document integrity through electronic signatures?
13. Build complete audit histories and trails with the ability to log all changes?
14. Offer version management?
15. Meet certain security standards and regulations such as ISO 9001?
16. Enable seamless integration with other corporate content management systems?
17. Guarantee non-repudiation?
18. Provide consistently excellent customer support? What measurements are in place to ensure support quality?
    

Here are a few security standards and official regulations to assess the digital archiving software vendor's overall quality and ability to handle sensitive documents properly.

• ISO 9001: A standard that details the requirements for a Quality Management System (QMS). The main requirement is for vendors to implement methods and systems to prevent errors and ensure a flawless QMS. A vendor with this certification has an excellent quality control rating in the production and manufacturing of software
• ISO 15489: A software vendor with this certification has proven, reliable and established concepts, principles and guidelines for business records management
• ISO 27001: An information security standard that is the highest requirement for the production, operation, monitoring, maintenance and improvement of a DMS for information security. Through this standard, all information security is brought under management control
• ISO 27017: A security standard for cloud service providers. Systems that meet this standard have maximum data security in the cloud. Only customers can access their data, which is protected from third-party access
• Cloud Security Allowance (CSA) and the Cloud Controls Matrix (CMM): The CSA created the CMM, which details a baseline set of security controls to assess any risk associated with a cloud provider. It covers the hosting requirements for security, privacy, compliance, and risk management.

Archiving is something you have to do as a business, so it’s essential to have the right strategies in place to achieve this. Integrating archiving into document management strategies is essential for ensuring efficient storage and easy retrieval of documents throughout their lifecycle.

Archiving serves as a critical component within document management systems, facilitating the transition of documents from active use to secure archival storage.

Let's delve into the specifics of how a DMS enhances document storage.

• Efficient storage management: Archiving within document management systems allows organisations to optimise storage space by moving inactive or less frequently accessed documents from primary storage to secondary storage or archival repositories. This helps prevent primary storage systems from becoming cluttered with outdated or rarely used files, thereby improving overall system performance and efficiency
• Easy retrieval and accessibility: Digital archiving solutions enhance document accessibility by providing robust search and retrieval functionalities. Archived documents are indexed and categorised based on metadata attributes, making it easy for users to locate specific files using search queries or filters. This ensures that archived documents remain readily accessible whenever needed, eliminating the hassle of manual searching through physical or digital file cabinets
• Preservation of document integrity: Integrating archiving into document management strategies requires preserving the integrity of archived documents. Digital archiving solutions utilise encryption, checksums and other security measures to safeguard the authenticity and integrity of archived documents over time. This helps ensure that archived documents remain unchanged and tamper-proof, maintaining their reliability and legal validity
• Compliance and regulatory requirements: Effective archiving within document management systems ensures compliance with regulatory requirements and industry data retention and privacy standards. Archiving solutions often include retention policies, audit trails and compliance reporting tools, enabling organisations to demonstrate compliance with regulations such as GDPR and HIPPA. This helps mitigate the risk of non-compliance-related penalties and legal issues
• Seamless integration and interoperability: Integrating archiving seamlessly into document management systems requires compatibility and interoperability with existing software and platforms. Archiving solutions should be able to integrate with various document management systems, content repositories and business applications, ensuring smooth data exchange and workflow automation across the organisation's ecosystem. This enables organisations to leverage their existing investments in technology while enhancing document management capabilities with archiving functionalities
• Lifecycle management and retention policies: Archiving within document management strategies involves implementing lifecycle management practices and retention policies to govern the lifecycle of documents from creation to disposal. Archiving solutions enable organisations to define and enforce retention periods, archival rules and disposal schedules based on regulatory requirements, business needs and document types. This ensures documents are retained for the required duration and disposed of securely once they reach the end of their lifecycle, minimising the risk of data breaches and information leakage.

By seamlessly transitioning documents from active use to secure archival storage, organisations can streamline operations, improve accessibility and preserve document integrity over time.

With digital archiving solutions, you can effectively manage the entire document lifecycle while mitigating data loss, non-compliance and information leakage risks.

As businesses embark on their digital transformation journey, integrating archiving into document management strategies becomes not just important but crucial. It's a step towards maintaining competitiveness and driving sustainable growth.

Ready to improve your document archiving solutions? Explore DocuWare's comprehensive archiving and document management solutions. Contact us today.