Not all compliance breaches and regulatory violations are intentional. Most are accidental breaches that are the result of some type of mistake, miscommunication, or errant process that results in some type of violation. Regardless of intent, compliance violations are expensive headaches for organizations, both when looking at them financially and from a time investment standpoint. When a breach is discovered, organizations need to pour resources into fixing the mistake and documenting it thoroughly.
Avoiding Compliance Breaches
The best way to avoid compliance slipups: take preemptive measures to stop them from ever happening. Investing just a small amount of resources into proper IT infrastructure, training and other preventative measures is always worth it in the end, and it all begins with knowing the common mistakes people make that result in compliance violations.
Compliance Mistakes to Avoid
There are many easy-to-make mistakes that can lead to compliance breaches and other issues:
Mishandling or Misplacing Physical Documents
This is one of the most common, it’s also the best argument for investing in a fax server with an email integration. When documents are printed out from a storage system, carried to a fax machine and manually scanned in, it leaves a lot of opportunity for the protected information contained within the documents to be lost or left out for others to see. It also leaves open the possibility of it not being disposed of properly (e.g. shredded, etc.).
Improper Storage of Electronic Documents
Even if you deploy a fax server with an electronic document storage system, you can still run into compliance issues if not all regulations are met. Many industry regulations not only require that electronic documents be kept secure, they also require:
- Audit trails of documents that have moved
- Documents be kept for a certain amount of time
- Easy access for auditors in case a review is necessary
- Documents must only be accessible by authorized viewers
Organizations must also maintain the integrity of information. If a document storage system goes down and data is lost, this is still considered a compliance breach. That’s why it’s important to invest in dual servers and redundant fax servers. Redundant fax servers ensure that faxes can still be sent and received in the event that one goes down, preventing the loss of data from occurring.
Documents Mistakenly Sent to the Wrong Recipient
Even if all your IT infrastructure is secure, user errors can still happen. Faxes that are sent to the wrong recipient are some of the most common compliance issues organization run into. That’s why it’s important to set up some preventative measure that include:
- Fax cover sheet for all transmissions
- Fax number verification (asks users to confirm the number/recipient before sending a fax)
- Recipient verification (lets you know that the user has received and opened the fax)
Protect Yourself from Compliance Breaches
All of this and more is possible when you invest in a reliable fax server like RightFax. RightFax comes equipped with the protection you need to avoid accidental compliance breaches and even has a number of optional features and add-ons that can further increase the security and integrity of your fax server. For more information on how RightFax can help you maintain compliance, contact The Fax Guys today.
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