some client education likely will be in order.
by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless
one of the most critical steps in transitioning a firm to a paperless environment is capturing information in a digital format at its root source as that information enters the firm.
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at the base level, this means having clients provide you information in a digital format, which can be done via email, digital fax or through a portal rather than with a physical document. while email is currently the most prevalent tool utilized by clients, it is anticipated the security concerns will help clients transition toward portals.
email has been the most frequent tool used as most clients are comfortable attaching a spreadsheet or document and sending it to the firm. this method allows the digital file to be easily accessed and saved into the firm’s file storage applications.
“82% of firms request audit documents prepared by clients be delivered in a digital format.” – aaa 2013 survey
while clients are usually comfortable with sending files to the firm via email, there are often times when the information is confidential. for privacy and confidentiality, firms need to use email passwords, email encryption or a firm-controlled portal. applications that encrypt email such as citrix sharefile and cpaperless safesend can be viable solutions. the cost of a secured connection with a client can be somewhat expensive, but can be justified for the firm’s largest clients.
fax machines are a second method of inbound delivery that clients will continue to use for a few more years because of ease of use. traditional fax machines print out a physical document that is usually manually delivered to the recipient or scanned and attached to an email to be delivered electronically to that same recipient. transitioning the process to keep the fax in a digital format that is linked to email when received will save on manual handling.
while secured email or a portal would be the preferred delivery solution, some clients will not have adequate internet access and opt to bring in documents (such as their quickbooks files) on a cd or usb flash drive. firms should make a concerted effort to discourage client use of thumb drives as they carry the risk of introducing malware into the firm’s network. when personnel do receive physical media, there should be a procedure to thoroughly scan it before loading any files to the network and then return the media to the client immediately, so the firm is not tasked with disposing of the media.
the key to successful adoption of this quantum leap is to provide proactive training and reminders to clients on how data should be digitally transferred to the firm. some firms have begun documenting this information on the firm’s website as well as using remote screen control tools such as join.me and logmein to assist clients.
recommended action: formalize process to have clients transfer files electronically.
one response to “devil’s in the details of digital file delivery”
scott bonacker
it’s all well and good to have information in digital format, but that’s just the first step.
organize and store the data in a way that it can be retrieved when needed.
usually that will mean getting documents in native pdf format wherever possible.
running an ocr process on scanned documents received as images where that is not, which means controlling the quality of the scans.
but there are more formats than pdf – ms office files, wordperfect office files, other more specific data files – and the apps to access them.
x1 search8 can be extremely useful for indexing and doing content searches on even large files. after the initial index is built, overhead can be controlled.