Archives for September 2008
Data Security is key at Preview
It seems that hardly a month goes by without yet another security breach coming to light where confidential information has gone missing from a large contractor or government agency. This time the personal details of thousands of prison staff have been misplaced, and once again the spotlight is very much on all companies that have to deal with confidential information and how they do that safely.
And that includes Preview.
Our work involves confidential information on a daily basis. While it might not be the personal information of our prison staff or members of the Armed Forces, it does include information which is often business critical and can contain both sensitive as well as personal elements.
As such, a key part of the document scanning service we provide involves the security of the documents and the information they contain at all stages of the process. This doesn’t just cover the scanning process itself … far from it. It starts when we receive the documents (including transportation where appropriate) and their storage, both electronically and physically, afterwards.
So what are the areas that we look at and what measures are in place:
i) Security vetted staff – to comply with regulations from certain clients, we have security vetted staff who can be used where required or appropriate;
ii) Transportation – when transporting documents to and from our scanning facility, the vans are fitted with GPS tracking helping security to be as tight as possible;
iii) Premises – security at our facilities is clearly a key element in making sure the scanning is carried out in the correct environment. Our Records Management Centre also provides a safe storage facility for those customers looking for secure offsite storage after the digitisation is complete.
iv) Tested online system – a key element of our system is the online storage and viewing facility which gives our customers instant yet secure access to their digitised documents through our eview+ software.
By focusing on all of these different elements, we ensure that every precaution is taken to maintain the security of the data and information we handle at every step of the process. With the volume of information we handle increasing, they are also solutions which are scalable to ensure that the levels are maintained and developed as the requirements grow.
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Document Management in the NHS
With the large volumes of documentation that the NHS handles on a daily basis, a document management system which offers the ability to organise this is going to be of great importance. As part of this process, the benefits that individual NHS Trusts can accrue from a programme of document scanning and indexing can also be immense, both in terms of time saving and efficiency.
These benefits were some of the points that Preview looked to highlight in their “Document Management Healthcheck” presentation at the ASSIST event (Association of Informatics Professionals in Health and Social Care) this month. It also gave the opportunity to highlight some of the work that Preview has been carrying out at a number of NHS Trusts such as Leeds Mental Health.
The issues that many of the Trusts are experiencing tend to fall into 3 main categories which primarily revolve around the issue of accessibility of the records they require on a day to day basis. These issues are often compounded by the fact that the Trusts run several different sites across their region with documents produced and stored locally but needed to be accessed by all of them.
The issues most commonly highlighted are:
i) The ability to both locate the information quickly coupled and access it as easily as possible. Due to multiple sites involved, this could often result in a time consuming search for specific documents.
ii) With document being in constant demand, real ease of access also required that more than one person should be able to work with the documents at a time, something that was certainly problematic with paper documents.
iii) The need to store a constantly increasing mountain of files and documents was putting more and more pressure on space which was already at a premium. More filing cabinets and archive boxes would only compound this further.
In each of these cases, the digitisation of the documents by scanning and indexing them, would effectively deal with these issues at one fell swoop giving instant access to the information to all authorised personnel across the region, not to mention freeing up some badly needed space.
But what happens if you need a document while they are all being scanned and indexed? No longer are they sitting in one of the filing cabinets waiting to be found, they’re in Preview’s facilities in London! No problem – with Preview’s Scan on Demand service coming to the rescue, any document required can be processed and put online to be viewed easily and quickly.
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Benefits of Outsourced Managed Services
Your experience of Preview will probably be based on our document scanning and data capture capabilities. In fact, we have now created the largest document scanning operation in the UK and use this capacity across a huge range of industries.
However, in addition to this, we have also developed a key partnership with an offshore managed services company which means that we can extend the cost savings on many ‘back office’ processes. When combined with Preview’s ability to digitise paper, this provides what is probably the most powerful range of managed services available in the UK market.
In extending the range of services available, Preview has partnered with ADEC Solutions, which is one of the leading BPOs in the Far East with some 5000 staff operating out of a several locations. Preview and ADEC are already working with dozens of UK companies that are already seeing substantial benefits as they streamline many of their core activities.
So of the areas which are seeing particular success in are:
- Accounts Payable & Accounts Receivable Processing
- Claims verification and processing
- Database management
- Forms Processing
- Financial Reconciliation
- Sales & PO Order Entry
- Employee Expense Management
The initial benefits of this type of arrangement often tend to focus on costs, with typical savings of around 30%-40% over existing arrangements being achieved. However, the benefits don’t stop there. The facilities are also totally scalable at short notice – so any peak or downturn in volumes can be managed quickly. In addition, outsourcing can provide consistent, excellent service levels to customers, while improving service quality – a combination which is key at any time and particularly in today’s economic climate.
Perhaps most importantly the World class quality and security that clients have come to expect from Preview is taken to a new level with ADEC’s Certifications which:
• ISO 9001:2000;
• ISO 27001:2005 / ISO 17799:2005
• Certified Perimeter Certification from CyberTrust for Data Security.
Together these offer a solution which is both flexible and secure, and comes with the levels of quality that both you and your customers would expect.
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