10 Reasons Your Mother Was Wrong About Paperless Filing Systems

Our mothers have been the ones to take the best care of us from the time we were born. They’re the ones who put Band-Aids on our wounds, cleaned up the juice we spilled, and wiped our… runny noses. As amazing as mothers are, even they have limits. Below are some words of advice that you may have received from your mother that might not be applicable with online data storage today:

1. “You should share with everyone”: Almost all of us heard this well-intended advice from our mothers when we were younger, but in the real world, not everyone is looking out for you. When sharing information on the Cloud, you should be very selective in who you share that information with. Create firewalls in order to make it even more restrictive. Share only on a need-to-know basis.

2. “Slow down”: This advice might have been good when you were going downhill on rollerblades, but when it comes to online data storage you need to keep up to speed with the latest software. If you get behind in software updates, you are more vulnerable to hacking, and your efficiency will be hampered as well.

3. “Follow your gut no matter what”: There are a lot of situations in life when following our gut is the right thing to do, and mothers tend to have an incredible sense of intuition. That being said, in the online world you need to remain vigilant and even skeptical. It is a mark of wisdom, not paranoia, to set up passwords and use secured networks.

4. “There’s nothing you can’t do”: This mentality is dangerous in the online world. If you feel invincible when you’re online, that makes you all the more vulnerable. Hackers are well-trained in what they do, and they are desperate to take advantage of you. Assume that they are trying to get your information, so be proactive in protecting your data.

5. “You can always trust your family”: For many of us, our family members are the ones we can trust the most. If that’s the case for you, consider yourself lucky. Unfortunately, there are many examples where people have had their personal information exploited by family members, so be careful even with those you are closest to.

6. “Actions speak louder than words”: In our daily interactions, this is great advice: our actions really show who we are. Online, however, our words are who we are and are oftentimes the first impression other people get of us. Your words are powerful, so use them well, and use tone and punctuation that accurately reflect your ideas, because your words will be judged and scrutinized. Because of online data storage, those words can stick around for a LONG time.

7. “What’s the worst that could happen?”: This advice sounds good because it can calm down nerves and help us think with perspective and take risks. However, sometimes we think we can cut corners and neglect basic security measures when we underestimate consequences. Having your personal identification stolen is a big deal. It can add a lot of stress and frustration, so be aware that “the worst” can bring serious problems.

8. “Be open with your feelings”: You need to be careful what you say online, even if you think you’re completely secure (technologically and emotionally). The information you and your employees post can harm your organization more than ever because it’s easier to find by outside sources. One company has a policy for all employees to write as if the Wall Street Journal was censoring everything they wrote, whether it was an email, memo, or instant message. Policies like this help a company to avoid embarrassing data leaks.

9. “You need to date, so I set up an online profile for you”: Don’t let others define who you are online. This is especially applicable when you are sharing a document online. If you are part of a group project, make sure you use document tracking so people can know what you contributed and what you didn’t. It’s part of being personally accountable.

10. “Don’t complain”: In the online world, if you’ve been hacked or treated unfairly, do not hesitate to tattletale on the guilty party. The earlier you report, and the more information you report, the more likely you are to track down the criminal. Don’t worry about inconveniencing authorities because we’re all working together to promote a safer internet.

How Inspector Gadget Would Use Cloud Document Management Today

Inspector Gadget was one of my favorite cartoon characters growing up. Whether he was dodging traffic to catch a crook or cutting ropes to escape capture, Inspector Gadget seemed to always have a solution literally built-in to his body so that he could save the day. He was practically a walking Swiss Army knife, and a very comical one at that.

Inspector Gadget always knew what gadgets he had available in time of need, and how to use them. All he had to do was say “Go Go Gadget (item)” and it would instantly appear. He would activate the Gadget Copter so he could fly at a moment’s notice, or use his Gadget Spring to jump above the fray.

People often overlook that while Inspector Gadget was often on the run catching criminals, he had his share of office work to take care of as well. As a hero who defined resourcefulness, he would have certainly used Cloud document management in helping store files on villains and open cases. You need to follow Inspector Gadget’s lead by knowing how to use the many tools you have available with the Cloud.

Go Go Gadget…

Share: Inspector Gadget would use the Cloud to communicate with his precocious niece, Penny, who proved invaluable in helping him crack many cases. His boss, Chief Quimby, would have benefited from sharing files so he wouldn’t have to send paper messages, which had the tendency to self-destruct. With the Cloud, he could share messages instantly with his sidekicks from anywhere in the world.

Password: Inspector Gadget’s arch-nemesis, Dr. Claw, always looked for ways to thwart Inspector Gadget’s efforts. He was basically the ‘90s version of a hacker. Nowadays, he would definitely try to attack Inspector Gadget’s online resources. That’s why Inspector Gadget would use a complex password and closed networks to keep Dr. Claw at bay.

Backup: Inspector Gadget would never compromise his personal safety by relying solely on physical files. He had extremely sensitive information that criminals would even kill to steal. Every document he had would be backed up on the Cloud.

Update: With his state-of-the-art submarine that could convert into a fighter jet, Dr. Claw was incredibly tech savvy. Inspector Gadget could not afford to fall behind with old software, so he would update constantly. You should do the same.

Search: With so much information to sort and so little time, this would be one of Inspector Gadget’s most useful tools. He didn’t have time to find a needle of a word in a haystack of documents. Having your information online makes it so much easier to find the data you need quickly—all you need is to click a button or hit a key.

Data leaks can be extremely damaging for a company, whether they are accidental or intentional. It might surprise you to know that the employees of a company are just as much of a threat as cyberthieves. While less than 5% of cyberattacks come from an internal source, when they are internal they have more potential for major harm because employees know where to find critical information and how to maximize use of the data they steal.

Bank of America faced a disastrous internal data leak in 2011 that was widely publicized. An employee sent account information on hundreds of customers to identity thieves. Bank of America lost around $10 million dollars, and was forced to deal with a public relations nightmare.

Part of the reason why internal data leaks are more dangerous is that IT personnel tend to focus their efforts on securing a company’s networks from the outside, but overlook internal issues. To shield yourself from an internal threat, you need to target the network, the host device, and the people who move and change data.

At the network level, you need to have controls in order to analyze network traffic and regulate the flow of sensitive data. Part of this includes training employees on how to handle this data. The human aspect of data security is one of the most prone to cause errors, so make sure that training is constantly emphasized.

Email and the Internet are the two most common means of moving data out of your company. Make sure that employees have numerous controls about how they not only use their corporate email address, but their personal email address as well. To take an extra level of security, you might want to implement a “four-eye check” where a manager physically looks over the content of an email and who it is sent to before an employee sends sensitive data.

Obviously, a malicious individual could try to skip a four-eye check, so it might be a good idea to connect employees’ email boxes to that of their manager so their activity can be monitored. It’s not a matter of snooping—it’s a matter of security, whether it’s preventing an intentional or accidental mistake.

There are also excellent gateway options that automatically monitor data sent out of your company’s network. Vendors like Barracuda, Cisco IronPort, McAfee, and other systems can flag terms that are sensitive, and track down data like Social Security Numbers that should never leave your network. You can specify where such notices are sent, such as HR personnel or a security team.

As with all security issues, be proactive! If you detect a gap in your systems where an error could take place, it likely will sometime in the future. You can save your company from lawsuits, extortion, and embarrassment by placing controls immediately.

Human resource work sometimes goes unheralded—often, people don’t realize the hard work you do, but if something goes wrong, you can be held liable for serious problems. Here are some things to watch out for to help you handle the numerous responsibilities in human resources.

Leave the Door Open

Some human resource managers rely on their employees to report issues to them. While it is important to help your employees feel empowered to communicate workplace issues, it is far from a cure-all. Also, if a problem is not communicated early on, it can become too late to resolve the problem effectively. It is essential to take the initiative to ask the tough questions directly and early to employees. You need to find the problems before they find you.

Know the Laws

There are so many laws that relate to employee relations that it is impossible to stay on top of them all, but you should do your best to know the most significant ones. Stay on top of the Fair Labor Standards, HIPAA, and other laws that protect the privacy and well being of employees. If you’re not sure how to interpret or implement policies that relate to those laws, consult with an attorney.

Leave a Trail

Document (and backup) everything that is relevant to your employees. It is as important as ever that you have documentation to support your statements whether you’re dealing with complaints or lawsuits. Important files to document include those that pertain to legal issues, disciplinary issues, performance reviews, and other critical records.

Reward Your Employees

This might sound trite, but let your employees know you care about them and that you are invested in their success. Be transparent and candid with your feedback on an individual basis, but reward high performance openly and often. If employees only hear negative feedback about themselves, they’re more likely to view the company through a negative lens. Because it is so important to retain talent for small companies, you need to continually give your employees a reason to stay.

Patriots’ Day – Build Profits Locally Starting With Your Office

Today is Patriots’ Day, when we commemorate the first battles of the Revolutionary War. It’s a day to reflect on the responsibilities and privileges of living and working in America. What better way to show our patriotism than to help build strong businesses that add value and jobs to our economy?

In order to help your organization grow, you need to start in the most basic way: organizing. Whether your business is based on services or tangible goods, you need to find ways to make the information you have more accessible, more shareable, and at the same time more secure than ever before.

As you’ve been following our blog, it’s no secret that we see the Cloud as indispensable to achieving those ends. Whether your company needs to store invoices, insurance bills, or HR documents, the Cloud has a solution to keep your files safe and organized. Efficiency is more important than ever to stay competitive, and the ability to retrieve data quickly is at the core of efficiency.

It’s not enough to simply use the Cloud; you have to know how to use it well. Fortunately, it’s not calculus. The Cloud is user-friendly, essentially putting a tech team at your disposal to make sure that the cyber infrastructure is intact and running on all cylinders. Review our posts about security, how long to store files, and file sharing to get the most out of your Cloud experience.

How long to keep files – HR Best Practices Part 2

Keeping accurate and up-to-date personnel files are a challenge for any employer. If you work in HR, there are a lot of files you need to organize, and there are various regulations for those files in order to maintain privacy. Make sure you know not only how long to keep the files listed below, but also how to handle them in a confidential manner. Here are some documents you need to keep, and how long you need to keep them:

3 years:
Applications, changes, terminations
Fidelity bonds
Individual employee file

4 years:
Attendance records
Clock records
Disability and sick benefits records
Health and safety bulletins

5 years:
Daily time reports

6 years:
Insurance records (group and employee)
Correspondence

7 years:
Accident reports, injury claims, settlements
Employee contracts
Garnishments

Permanent:
Earnings records
Employee service records

Maintaining Security and Privacy with Files – HR Best Practices Part 1

If you work in HR, you have more resources available than ever to store and organize files. However, you are also as vulnerable as ever to having them compromised or stolen. When handling documents as private as income statements, health records, and legal records, it is essential to know exactly where your documents are, and how to disclose them only to the appropriate parties.

Here are some tips that will help you make sure the documents under your care are secure:

Use a separate network—by using an exclusive network from the rest of the workplace, you help make sure that other employees don’t intentionally or unintentionally access confidential data. Create a network that is clearly distinct from others that are located nearby. If possible, install a firewall on your personal computer as a second control.

Password protect—as with any data you protect, you need to create a password for documents with sensitive information. Make sure the password is complex, unique, and disclosed to others on a need-to-know basis only. Use passwords not only for critical documents, but for the network you use as well.

Give specific user access to different files—identify who needs to have access to which files, and make sure that files are only shared with those individuals. Make sure to keep on top of privacy regulations like HIPAA, FCRA, and ECPA so you know what kind of information can be shared and with whom.

Share confidential information on a need-to-know basis—if there’s a question as to whether somebody needs access to a given document, steer on the side of caution. Avoid the embarrassment and liability of compromising data by knowing the guidelines and consulting with legal professionals if necessary.

April Does Not Have to Shower Paper

Do you sometimes feel like you’re being flooded with documents that you would much rather have evaporate into thin air? Especially with tax season, April can feel like a hectic month for keeping your files organized, especially if you’re storing paper documents. We like to get rid of the clutter by sending those documents to the Cloud. Look around your office and home to see if you can store the following documents online.

Taxes—these forms can be especially worrisome this time of year. We recently wrote a post about how long to keep documents related to taxes. These are great to keep in the Cloud because it’s easy to sort data according to type and time. When you need to retrieve files quickly, you can’t beat the Cloud.

Invoices—invoices are great to keep in the Cloud because they will be secure. If you take appropriate security measures like using a firewall and using secure networks, your data can be more safe than using a physical file cabinet.

Billing statements—it is important to keep billing statements for your records. The Cloud gives you the ability to pull them online when you need them, and refer to them quickly if you have questions about transactions.

Legal documents—if you are an attorney and you need to keep confidential files, or if you’re a small business that needs to keep legal documents going back decades, the Cloud is an excellent option. Storing these files online can give attorneys a special advantage through document tracking. If a file needs to be updated or shared, there is no faster way to do it than online document storage.