… but don’t forget security.
by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless: technology guide & checklist
we’ve said that firms should strive to capture all data in a digital format at its “root” source. this goes for services such as the firm’s fax and voice mail systems as well.
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traditional inbound faxes are usually printed from a fax machine and then hand-delivered to the recipient’s desk. in some cases, this fax image is actually rescanned and emailed to the recipient. while this is a step toward digital delivery, today’s digital fax systems deliver a digital image to the recipient via email, so they can access them within their email.
higher-end copier/duplicators have integrated fax cards that will deliver the image to a designated administrative person who can update the subject and forward the fax to the intended recipient. for after-hours delivery of faxes, these systems can publish the fax to a public folder in outlook or on a network drive that all authorized firm members can access (the same as a printed fax in the fax machine). if the firm’s equipment does not have an integrated fax card, this feature can be outsourced to a hosted service provider such as nextiva or efax.
firms should also consider the benefits of delivering voice messages through the email system, rather than having a separate system. most of today’s phone systems have the ability to transform a voice mail message into a .wav file that can be listened to on the recipient’s computer, forwarded to others and even saved in the firm’s client files. the advantage to this is that end users consolidate all firm communications (email, fax, voicemail) in one place that can be made accessible through the internet from any web-connected device.
digital communications within firms is expanding to also incorporate video calling, screen sharing, file sharing and integrated instant messaging, which are known as collaboration suites. the 2019 cpafma survey found that 56 percent had implemented a collaboration tool with instant messaging and 74 percent had implemented video calling.
microsoft’s teams application (which replaces its skype and lync serices) is rapidly becoming the most prevalent individual video calling system used by firms as it is integrated with office 365/exchange. it is recommended that all firms consider the collaboration opportunities that video and data conferencing can provide and to ensure all new workstations integrate that capability. for existing desktop computers that do not have an integrated camera, microphone and speakers, there are add-on devices such as the logitech quickcams available under $50 per workstation.
unified messaging will bring all firm communications to one platform, so it is important to highlight that proper access security and awareness must be in place. by having all firm communications in one location it will be easier for your it personnel (or a cloud provider) to perform comprehensive backups and provide better security for all firm communications.
recommended actions:
- capture faxes and voicemail digitally at the root source and make available securely in outlook via the internet.
- implement collaboration tools and train personnel on use.