Improve Records Management and Eliminate Fraud By Philip Bain
Recent Government figures show that Identity Fraud in the United
Kingdom costs £1.7 Billion a year. This represents £35 for every
adult in the country and is a £400 million increase since a
previous official estimate in 2002. This is the result of about
135,000 incidents a year, personal and business. It is a massive
500 per cent increase since 1999.
The Home Office Minister Andy Burnham has said that Identity
Fraud underpins criminality right across the spectrum, from
benefit fraud to money laundering through to more serious crime
and terrorism.
In the United States a 5 year study has revealed that in the
period under review approximately 27 million Americans experienced
Identity Fraud costing Business, Individuals and Government
53 billion dollars a year.
It is one of the fastest growing and also fasting changing crimes
in the world. On an ongoing basis criminals are developing new
and more ingenious ways of stealing Identities.
It must therefore be recognised as a serious problem with the
potential to increase significantly year on year and its prevention
must be a priority for Business and individuals.
Businesses should carry out risk management assessments on how
open they are to the fraudsters and develop techniques to monitor
results and implement techniques to frustrate the criminal.
All records specific to a company are sensitive. Customer records
and contracts, Human resource files, payroll, financial records.
There is generally enough in a bin bag to create one false identity.
Organisations must be aware of the risk they run in uncontrolled
disposal of documents. Similarly they must recognise the potential
for disorganised filing systems to put their businesses and
reputations at serious risk. If there is the potential to find
enough information in discarded documents to steal identities
the risk must be increased through haphazard filing systems.
How often are boxes of files left for days on end without being
supervised.
Consider how much is spent on security guards, alarms, CCTV
systems, investigators, and computer safety? Yet one file going
astray or sensitive information dumped in the wrong place can
highlight a weakness. Careless document management and disposal
can damage a firm’s reputation.
Often we hear of documents being leaked to the media, private
records illegally dumped or even information being stolen. And
still many companies are of the opinion that a Business disaster
will never happen to them. But you cannot plan for the unexpected.
Saving money on secure records management, retention policy
and confidential disposal is a false economy.
More and more organisations in the Public & Private Sector are
turning to off-site document storage and management companies.
It has now reached a stage that it is less common for files
to be stored in house and more common for this function to be
outsourced to professional record management companies.
Whilst paper records remain vital, the integration of bar coded
tracking of hard copy filing with scanning and hosting solutions
have become more widely available as the technology develops.
Generally the emphasis has been on physical security of the
prime storage location rather than the need to track files and
have proper systems in place to ensure that their whereabouts
are known. The need for security does not end there and as many
organisations have found to their cost, proper disposal of documents
requires supervised on site destruction.
Nowadays document disposal is a growth sector. Your sensitive
documents can be securely shredded at your office premises while
your representative watches eliminating any risk of theft. A
record of the transaction is provided to prove that sensitive
material has been disposed of securely. Apart from the commercial
imperatives of ensuring that information is available the consequences
of poor tracking and disposal can have serious legal and reputational
consequences.
Implementing a document management policy demonstrates that
your company is striving for best practice and is adhering to
its legal and regulatory obligations. It represents to employees
and clients the value your organisation places on document management.
A Document Retention Policy requires comprehensive guidelines,
which endorse your organisations principles on document management.
Implementing a Document Retention Policy demonstrates that your
organisation is striving for best practice and adhering to any
legal or regulatory obligations. It also represents to employees
and third parties the value that your organisation places on
document management. . If there is no business reason or legal
obligation to retain a document, it can be destroyed. Retention
of documents should be for legitimate business purposes only.
Senior Management should distribute a Document Retention Policy
statement to all staff in the organisation. This reinforces
the importance of the organisation’s official procedures regarding
their document management policies.
A Document Retention Policy must be properly supervised. It
must ensure that all staff are aware of its existence and be
accompanied by easily accessible written guidelines on how to
apply it. Training for the proper use of these guidelines should
be provided periodically.
It is particularly important under the Freedom of information
Act that the management and disposal of records is undertaken
in accordance with clearly established policies. Records that
have reached the end of their administrative life must be disposed
securely, providing management with confidence and peace of
mind.
Philip Bain is General Manager of DMG Services in Northern Ireland.
The company comprises Filestores, Shred-it and Scan Image Services,
encompassing a single service solution for document and data
management including; storage, scanning, filing and destruction.
They employ 40 people at their offices at Knockmore, Lisburn.
For more information on our service visit www.dmg-services.com
or call 028 9266 3535.
