Securing Business Continuity through Document Management Software
Jarrard, Nowell, & Russell, LLC is a full-service accounting firm based in Charleston, North Carolina. They face unique challenges for business continuity and cost savings: Because their downtown Charleston office is located a few hundred yards from the harbor, business continuity planning and disaster mitigation have been key to their success.
On-Site Document Management Software Benefits
They decided to house data 15 miles inland at a secure ‘hot site,’ a disaster recovery service with all equipment necessary to continue operating if their own office shuts down for any reason. With this new setup, they began looking for Document Management Software that could be installed on the server as an on-site installation instead of an online or web-based system.
Derrick Apple audit Manager at Jarrard, Nowell, & Russell, LLC, describes how the off-site storage idea and on-site system positively impacted his practice:
“With this in place, we feel we have remote, secure access to our client data without sacrificing control of confidential information. We consider ourselves early adopters of the off-site storage idea. A few years ago we were needing to purchase a new server. Our location, combined with the price of a new server, prompted us to look around for options that were available off-site. eFileCabinet streamlines our business and enables us to spend less time on the things that don’t bring value to our clients.”
Even for organizations not located near an ocean or on top of a fault line, any other geographic location imposes dangers unique to that region: fire, burglary, disgruntled ex-employees, and office break-ins are not out of the question and can happen to any organization, irrespective of size or industry.
Using Document Management to Prevent Data Catastrophe
“There haven’t been any hurricanes of late, thankfully, but we’ve had ice storms. We had two instances last year, and since we’re on a peninsula, the only way to get here from most areas is over bridges, which aren’t designed to handle ice. They were all shut down for a few days. The folks who stayed home were able to remote in to the server, and everything was there. It was during tax season, so it was important.”
As is the case with many organizations, Apple’s company held a company-wide training session a few weeks after the initial implementation to help employees adapt to the new system. Due to the ease of use, there weren’t many questions.
“The software is really intuitive. That’s one of the reasons we chose it in the first place. There was almost no learning curve whatsoever. It was an easy fit.”
Apple is happy to report that his organization is also having a much easier time storing finalized audit engagements, making the once burdensome process much simpler with DMS’s audit tracking, auto-dating, and strict data access controls. Apple describes how document management software controls and simplifies the auditing process:
Erasing Risky Data Management Methods
“Short of burning something to a CD, it’s always a struggle to lock down your files after an audit is wrapped up. eFileCabinet has saved us from having to buy engagement software that specifically does that.”
Document management software has proven to be even more useful than this. Apple enumerates upon how the DMS user interface is streamlined by third-party software integration and general functionality:
“eFileCabinet’s PDF viewer is much easier to use and you can view a PDF better than you can with Adobe. The Microsoft plug-ins work well, integrating it further into the workflow. Transferring documents into the program and having numerous options for labeling files saves time when searching and reviewing documents.”
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