Learn
        About Document / Records Management (Paper and Electronic)

Why do I need a Document Solution?
What Paper Problems can Krypton Solve for me?
Questions to answer before you decide on a solution
What options are out there for managing my documents?

Why do you need a Document Solution?

A simple fact of the business world is that companies are generating more records (both paper and electronic) than ever before. Some of this can be attributed to the myriad of record-keeping requirements imposed by state and federal law, while the ease of generation of electronic records is probably responsible for much of the increase. Since some of these documents could be needed at some later point in time, while others may lose their utility more quickly, each business needs to develop and implement a document retention and destruction policy.

The retention/destruction of records can have significance, both legally and practically, to a company. For example, the retention of employee records is significant for a number of reasons. Practically, it allows a company to monitor and evaluate the services being provided by that employee. Legally, there are a myriad of laws/regulatory bodies that require such recordkeeping, including wage and hour laws (such as the Fair Labor Standards Act), occupational safety laws (such as OSHA), employment laws, and ERISA. This same dual significance applies to other records that businesses typically generate (such as tax records), as they, too, may be subject to other laws such as federal and state envioronmental laws, state corporate laws, securities laws and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Another important reason for managing records properly -- storing them off-site in a secured location -- is disaster prevention. As this article from Digital Publishing Solutions magazine powerfully illustrates, part of the devastation from disasters like September 11th and Hurricaine Katrina is the vast amounts of records, public and private, lost for good. With a good document management solution in place, you won't have to worry about your deeds, files, and company's livelihood blowing away in some disaster.

Krypton is well-equipped, not just to install a technological solution in a business, but also to assist companies with understanding the regulations that apply to them, and in ensuring that their document solution meets all their needs.

What Problems Can Krypton Solve for Me?

Document solutions is solving paper problems. Krypton Document Solutions was designed by a mid-sized professional office to solve paper problems for other businesses, as well as our own. So far, we've found that our solution can also solve the paper problems of municipal offices, fire/police departments, medical clinics and hospitals, collections agencies, property managment firms...and we expect the list to grow!

Some examples of paper problems that Krypton Document Solutions addresses are:

What Do You Need To Look For?

A few years ago, document management was something that only very large corporations were worried about; correspondingly, the only people doing it were very large companies, and they were charging a fortune. The big players are still around, but Krypton is not alone in offering less costly solutions. Many of the other companies can't offer as many features, however, so it's important to know what you need and what to look for.

It's important to remember that every business' needs vary, depending on what your paper problem is, how you run your office, and what the regulatory requirements for your industry are. Krypton offers a very flexible, customizeable solution that's designed to suit your company. Below are some questions you'll want to ask yourself before purchasing a solution:

• Do I need to store paper documents, electronic documents or both? Krypton offers paper storage (for archiving boxes), Document Imaging (of archived and newly-created paper documents), and Electronic file storage in an all-in-one solution.
• How much is it going to cost me to retrieve my documents, and how accessible will they be? Krypton's solution includes no cost per retrieval of files stored electronically on our system -- view, download and print your files 24/7 through any Internet-connected computer.
• How hard will it be for my office staff to keep up with storing and retrieving files? Krypton has one of the easiest possible storage mechanisms anywhere: Put a file on your scanner, push one button, and we've got it!
• How safe are my files? We have some of the best security in the business, including encrypted transmissions, multiple backups, and password-protected access.
• How easy will it be to find my documents, once they're stored? We provide full-text OCR, so you can automatically search through your files by any words that appear anywhere in the file. You'll never have to input any "tags" or labels to help you find your files (unless you want to!). Even better, we offer a fully-flexible "folder tree" that you can design however you like--or simply ignore--and re-design later without ever disturbing or losing your files.
• Do I have to buy equipment, or upgrade my computers or network? Not with Krypton! Our solution works with as many different types of scanning hardware, networks and operating systems as possible, and we're always expanding our capabilities. We aren't a hardware or software company, and what's more, we know that it's more effective to use a system that works with your existing equipment whenever possible.
• Will the staff in my office actually *use* the system? They will with Krypton. We offer customized staff training and ongoing customer support to ensure that the system fits in seamlessly with your existing daily business.
• Can the system be customized to my needs? Besides on-the-fly customizeable folders and the broadest possible search mechanism for everyone, Krypton offers our customization-loving clients the option of a fully-customizeable online document-retrieval interface.
• How will I know what to store, and for how long? Krypton is even equipped to offer, as an optional service, legal help with your document retention & destruction policy, and clear explanations of all the rules governing your company.
• How much is this going to cost me to maintain? With Krypton, there are no hardware or software upgrade costs, ever.

Other Solutions: What Are Your Options?

Here's a brief rundown of the types of document-management solutions available today, and some of their notable features.

• In-House Solutions. These come in many forms, but they all involve buying equipment and housing the computer-end of the solution inside your office. Companies started using in-house solutions when other options weren't available, and some larger companies still use them because it's actually cheaper for them to purchase a server farm than it is to pay for a brand-name solution at their volume. An in-house solution only makes sense if you can store the information off-site in some way; storing copies of your files in your office does nothing for disaster-prevention, security or compliance issues. In-house solutions can also be expensive to maintain, require equipment upgrades, and some of them rely on proprietary software (see below).

• Proprietary Solutions. Companies that produce scanning hardware, such as Xerox, Hewlett-Packard and Ricoh-Gestetner are all offering document-management solutions that work with their hardware. Besides the hardware restriction, there is often software to purchase, and possibly to upgrade later on. You should also consider that, under the E-SIGN act governing the use of electronic documents as evidence in court or for professional purposes, some types of proprietary solutions may make the document less admissible or acceptable. This is because, with proprietary software and formats, there is always the danger that somewhere down the line, the company may not exist or may cease to support the software or format, and this could endanger the retrievability or integrity of your data.

• Online Solutions. There are many companies offering "online storage" and retrieval today through all-online solutions that you can sign up for with, many times, just a credit card. These companies don't charge much compared to the bigger solutions, because they're not offering much -- usually just a parking-space for your data on their computers, and a method for accessing it. Sometimes these solutions have the capability of sending files directly from your computer to your "storage" space, but watch out for proprietary software that makes this possible (see above). You will also have to ask lots of questions about the security measures in place (to date, none of these companies are making the "legally admissible original" claim that Krypton is). While online storage solutions work great for many individuals who produce lots of electronic data, they're problematic for businesses, because they generally don't offer training, customer support, or a method for scanning your paper documents in a secure and staff-friendly manner (or at all).

 

We sincerely hope that the information on this page has helped you to determine your needs for solving paper problems, and given you some insight into the Document Solutions market as it currently stands. And, of course, we hope you agree with us that Krypton Document Solutions is a workable, safe, affordable and sensible method for businesses to use to manage and store their paper and electronic files. If we can be of any further assistance to you, please don't hesitate to contact us!

 

 

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