With the recent Equifax breach splashed across headlines, many businesses are starting to evaluate the security of their own company information. When we see such news, most usually think that cyber hackers are the cause and frequently they are, however, data exposure and data loss also happens due to poor employee practices or unauthorized access to company data. Today, the goal of data security is the responsibility of everyone in your organization. From CFOs to warehouse workers, all employees need to be accountable for the way that information gets stored, shared, managed and destroyed. This, however, requires not only a change in mindset and employee training but also having the right electronic document management software functions and processes in place to avoid cyber-attacks, losing valuable information and securing the future of your company. And keep in mind that effective usage, storing and management of data is a great competitive advantage operating in a digital age.
Blue Link’s all-in-one ERP software is designed in a way so that data is securely stored electronically within the system, allowing users to quickly search, retrieve and index documents related to a variety of fields all within the system itself. These fields can include vendor invoices, lot numbers, serial numbers, customer POs etc. For many busy wholesale distribution businesses, who have copious amounts of paperwork flying around on a daily basis including invoices, inventory information, reports, customer data etc., having a central repository like Blue Link ERP to securely store that information is key to shielding data and saving time.
Security Benefits include:
- User Permissions
You can restrict access to selected users for specific screens and data within Blue Link. By creating these internal controls of data, users only see what’s relevant to their individual role, minimizing the risk of data exploitation that could be detrimental to your business. You can also track and monitor user performance in the system such as screens accessed and tasks performed at a user level.
- Credit Card Data Protection
If your wholesale distribution business handles credit card transactions, you must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) rules. When you store credit card information in Blue Link (using third party credit card merchants), customer card data is stored as tokens which meet these stringent standards and provides top-level security for your most sensitive data.
- Data Back-Up
For hosted (cloud) customers, Blue Link backs up customer data on a regular basis, and has power provisions in place, making the system available even during power outages lasting an extended period of time. No need to worry about ever losing company data.
Process Benefits include:
- Automate Workflows
Users can easily retrieve documents from Blue Link while speaking with customers and suppliers. This eliminates the chaos of having to manage paper documents and ensures all inventory information is accurate. The idea is that users process and store documents through a document management system and then access the information within the ERP.
- Storage Space
With documents and information stored in Blue Link, this reduces the need for expensive, often unnecessary physical storage space such as filing cabinets, storage facilities, folders/binders etc. And, with a cloud deployment, none of the servers and hardware are kept in your facility- Blue Link houses them at our dedicated data center.
- Paperless Office
Having electronic documents reduces expenses associated with printing and even mailing. The chances of losing or misfiling important documents are also lower when scanned and filed electronically making retrieval of documents easier as well. One of the most important benefits is that making the switch to go paperless and storing all data in a system like Blue Link, is that it opens up the opportunity for employees to work remotely and provide flexible work schedules.
Blue Link + DocuWare
Blue Link customers have the option to include the electronic data management component, DocuWare as part of their software implementation. DocuWare is completely integrated with Blue Link to provide even more functionality and security of company data. DocuWare pushes and pulls data from Blue Link and uses it for indexing documents, and all documents are automatically encrypted using the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption process - one of the most secure symmetric encryption processes.
- Electronically store, search and retrieve documents from one central repository
- Instantly access files from anywhere – on a computer or mobile device
- Automatically index critical data and improve search capabilities
- Automate business processes with powerful workflows
- Achieve the highest levels of security and control for your critical documents
DocuWare can be used on phones and iPads as well, and works especially great when tracking expenses!
