I’m willing to bet that the average person does not really spend time thinking about how secure his or her faxes are, and what kinds of risks are involved when sending documents over fax networks. As it is, many users are still unaware of how insecure email can be – a shocking fact considering how long email has been around.
To get more insight into how exactly we perceive fraudulent activities in relation to fax, FoIP, email, and other technological processes that require the transfer of documentation over various networks, I reached out to Steve Woodard, CEO at Quadrant Software.
Woodard provided some insight into the challenges of securing documents and document exchange. As a provider of multiple transmission options including FoIP and email, Quadrant Software enables secure document transfer.
Read on to see the exchange with Woodard.
JK: How is fraud linked to fax technology? The two do not immediately connect in the mind of the average person.
SW: The risk of paper documents is often overlooked as part of an overall security implementation. Sensitive data is at risk at any stage of the document lifecycle, and faced with many regulations in the protection of vital business information, companies are challenged with providing a secure way to handle, distribute, store and destroy documents properly.
Manual inefficiencies and errors such as lost documents, faxes sent to the wrong recipient, and unprotected data delivered to a fax machine with no one at the other end, all pose serious security risks. Quadrant Software technology provides multiple transmission options including fax over IP and via email that allows documents to be sent securely. Fax and FoIP are inherently more secure than email or simple document attachments, as a point-to-point transmission requires acknowledgement of receipt, to the sender.
JK: Does Quadrant work intimately with any fax providers?
SW: Quadrant Software is a fax provider. Over 3,500 companies depend on Quadrant Software’s Document Output Management (DOM) solutions for their document creation and delivery needs. Companies can electronically create, manage, and distribute mission critical documents to reduce expenses, increase productivity and improve communication in a more secure and compliant manner.
JK: What are the major concerns with secure document processes today?
SW: Data protection and security, compliance and regulatory requirements, and secure archiving and storage, and destruction.
Many companies across various vertical markets are under strict regulations as to how to manage, send, store, archive and present a myriad of document types. It is crucial for companies to make decisions around document management that provide compliance with these restrictions that affect their business processes based on the vertical market they serve. Integration into BPM, and corporate workflow are also key factors in adherence to these requirements and must be simple, and accurate to integrate, maintain, and audit.
JK: Does the growing mobility of the enterprise enter in to the growing concerns of fax-related documentation processes?
SW: The global workforce is now the norm rather than the exception, and the dependence on mobile devices has never been higher. Regulatory and management concerns are consistent regardless of the platform; however the challenge for DOM providers is now to maintain that compliance, yet support multiple mobile platforms and devices.
Enterprises must now be adept at updating, and insuring that mobile data is current throughout the enterprise, compliant and secure. DOM manufacturers must also consider encryption, and additional mobile security for sensitive documents and data types.
Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.
Edited by Jamie Epstein