We have a winner!

The draw has been made and I am delighted to announce that Paul & Crissie from AWL are the lucky winners drawn from nearly 100 entries. Well done to both of you! The champagne will be delivered in time for Christmas. Thanks to all others who entered — better luck next time.
Merry Christmas!

Quick!! Competition closes 12 noon 22 December.

With less than 12 entries received so far the chances of winning the bottle of champagne in time for Christmas are very high! Simply see the latest blog to enter the easy competition but be quick as quiz entries must be received by 12 noon on the 22nd December!

A Very Special Client has Gone Digital this Christmas!

Followers of our blog will know that Scan Film or Store has a very special relationship with a certain well known figure very popular at this time of the year.

This year we have been working on a top secret project helping him to move his operation into the digital age.

For obvious reasons we can’t name names and give too much away but we are sure you will guess who our very special client was from the case study below.

 

Read more…

Scan Film or Store v. Soccer Attic – The Scanning Company v. 30 Years of Vintage Soccer Magazines

Digital archiving of magazines is one of Scan Film or Stores’ services which is growing in popularity. With the digital age in full swing, magazine and book publishers are finding that digital back copies can be a great alternative to traditional paper based storage and can present new opportunities to break into sales of archive copies via bespoke apps.Digitally Magazine Scanning

The sheer volume of physical storage space needed and associated costs, plus the requirement to be able to easily access individual issues means that a well executed digital archiving strategy can result in considerable savings in both time and costs.

So when we were approached by online publisher Soccer Attic to help them scan their large back catalogue of football magazines we were up for the challenge – and what a challenge it was! When it comes to vintage magazines the pressure is really on to create great digital replicas without affecting the integrity of the original.

So the “match” was set…. and it was time for Scan Film or Store to take on a formidable opponent, the mountain of vintage soccer magazines held by Soccer Attic.

First a look at each “participant”:

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Document Scanning – a Love affair for your Business

“More and more companies these days are going on about how they want to go “paperless” but many companies are struggling to reach this goal at the present time as paper still continues to be part of many business processes and functions; and even when electronic resources are used files are still being printed, copied and more.” (Fujitsu).

With that in mind, here are a few facts to mull over the next time you head to the filing cabinet:

  • document management is now the largest non labour related cost to most organisations
  • the average document is copied 19 times
  • the average worker has a 34 hour paper backlog
  • paper files are doubling every 3.5 years

Many businesses aren’t aware of exactly how much of their costs can be attributed to the usual methods of document storage and filing; if they did they would certainly look to do something about it.

Even without knowing, the above statistics should certainly provide the incentive to head towards the “paperless” goal and start a love affair between your business and document scanning!

There are many operational benefits and savings to be made by making scanning a key part of your administrative processes; the following are the just a few to consider.

Read more…

Does your Data Stack Up?

 

Albert EinsteinAl GoreRoald Dahl

What do Albert Einstein, Al Gore and Roald Dahl have in common?

They all worked on untidy desks!

 

 

 

 

Research has shown that cluttered workspaces can help improve productivity and efficiency, but even though one of histories most famous scientists, a prominent American politician, and one of the most beloved children’s authors worked with an untidy desks, does it mean that it is OK for everyone to work this way?

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How safe is your customer data?

Scan Film or Store wins Cyber Essentials Scheme certification!There seems to be almost monthly press coverage about a household name having to apologise and reassure its customers that their personal data is safe after a successful hacking attempt on its website or computer systems.

The positive piece in this is that it is raising the general awareness to businesses and consumers of the risks inherent in holding personal information on websites, social media channels and other online systems.

This should ensure that businesses in particular increase their investment in protecting customer data held in this way from this kind of attack.

What’s often forgotten about with these high profile cases is that there is a significant amount of personal client data held in other formats and on other medium which is also at risk of being accessed or falling into the wrong hands. Personal information held as paper records in filing cabinets or cupboards, on laptops, PCs, phones and other electronic devices as well as external hard drives and memory sticks is all vulnerable and needs to be protected.

Read more…

This microfiche will self destruct in 30 seconds!

Match destroying data - scan film or storeIn spy novels ensuring top secret information is securely destroyed once no longer in use is easy…. a brief recorded message and then up it goes in smoke!

If only it was that easy to protect unwanted data held on Microfilm and Microfiche from getting into the wrong hands in the real world.

New digital technology provides a more secure alternative to organizations such as banks, hospitals and government bodies for storing sensitive and confidential data but many still hold vast amounts of out of date data on these older media that needs to be securely destroyed.

Incineration will ensure the total destruction of both the microfiche or microfilm and the data held on it however, the intense heat created during the incineration process and pathogens released means that it must be handled by a specialist company such as Scan Film or Store.

Additionally, the sensitive nature of the information held and the obligations on the organizations holding it to comply with data security legislation means that they require a specialist partner to plan and manage the entire process in order to provide the necessary audit trail.

 

It is our expertise in the field of high security data destruction that led to our involvement in the top secret project below:

Read more…

What if you lost your laptop or USB?

Did you know that there is a World Backup Day?

Well there is and it’s 31st March each year! The day reminds us to protect our precious digital documents as we become more and more reliant on technology and stresses the importance of regular backups. The proposed solution is to backup all your data in three different places (3-2-1 strategy) – one copy on your computer/tablet, one on an external storage device (USB stick or hard drive) and another offsite on a cloud storage solution.

I am sure that like me you ALL back up your data regularly (yeah, right!) but when the time comes to replace outdated PC’s or external hard drives how do you ensure that your precious data is not going to end up being accessed by criminals?

In a recent survey less than 20% of businesses across the UK said that they were shredding their computer hard drives. Over half the businesses thought
that erasing, wiping or degaussing their hard drives before recycling them would completely obliterate the data  and protect their confidential
information from being stolen or misused. To complete the statistics 14% said that they simply recycled their electronic media without even wiping the data
and 12% said that they had no idea how their business disposed of it’s out of date or obsolete computers, data storage devices or smartphones. When asked a staggering 72% of businesses did not know that most photocopiers have an electronic memory that can be used to reproduce exact images of all documents that have been copied on that machine using forensic software programmes (available free online).

It’s a fact that the only way to completely destroy data held electronically is to destroy the hardware that carries the data.

Methods of destruction vary from incineration to turning hard drives into minute metal fragments ( for more information see here)

“It would never happen in our company”

You may think that but British Airways was recently fined £20 MILLION by the Information Commissioner’s Office after data was stolen which contained personal and financial details of more than 400,000 of it’s customers Oct 2020  see https://tinyurl.com/2p8bnrrm) . Although this particular data breach was a ‘hack’ of the main BA system, data being lost or stolen and unprotected by even basic password protection or encryption of laptops, external hard drives and USB sticks is depressingly common. Even as far back as 2013 household name businesses have received six figure fines for failing to take the appropriate measures to protect legacy customer data on their hard drives or USB’s. Fines and reputational damage that follow the loss and exploitation of such data can ruin any business.

It is estimated that 91% of corporate laptops and desktops contain sensitive data and that the average cost to rectify a single record breach is £219 in compensation and management/staff  time. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently tested 158 used hard drives and recovered 92% of sensitive information which included credit card numbers, emails, medical records, names and contact numbers.

So what can you do?

It is worth implementing some best practices in your workplace to avoid data theft, including:

  • Avoid stockpiling unused hard drives (laptop & desktop towers) USB’s and disks particularly in unsecured locations
  • Regularly clean out hardware storage facilities
  • Destroy all unused hard drives/USB’s/CD&DVD disks using reputable specialist providers who have a secure chain of custody which will provide you with peace of mind and will ensure that your data is kept out of the hands of fraudsters
  • Regularly review your organisation’s information security policy to incorporate new and emerging forms of electronic media

Scan Film or Store will permanently destroy all types of your electronic media utilising a secure chain of custody including collection by our own staff in our own vehicles, recording of the items serial numbers at point of collection and will issue a Certificate of Destruction for your files detailing what has been destroyed. Destruction methods vary according to the media type i.e. hard drives are turned into tiny metal chips whereas microfilm and magnetic computer tape is incinerated.(learn more about our services here http://scan-film-store.co.uk/secure-data-destruction )

We can destroy:

  • Hard Drives ( from any kind of desktops or laptops)
  • USB/Pen
  • Flash drives/Portable External Hard Drives
  • Backup Magnetic Tapes (any kind of DLT, mini cartridges etc)
  • Floppy Disks (both 3.5 and 5.25 inch disks)
  • Optical Media (CD’s, DVD’s, Blu Ray and HD DVD’s)

If you would like some free advice on how to protect your unused data please contact us here

Top tips on surviving a flood

It’s been very wet this winter, as it was last year. More rain seems to be a part of life now. Which means water damage to homes and businesses across the UK is becoming more common.

So we thought we’d provide some top tips on how to avoid flood damage to your vital business records.

Keep your paper files stored on the top shelf. Paper is most susceptible to water damage so you could make sure all your valuable documents are on the top shelves, or indeed on top of filing cabinets. Of course this means you’ll need ladders or only employ tall people.

Always take the penthouse. If you are moving office make sure it’s on the top floor. Pay the premium, get the views and smirk when the ground floor tenants get washed out.

Go paperless. Paper is old fashioned anyway. Scan any documents you have or get a great supplier to do it for you. Make sure everything is digitised and keep the data in the ‘cloud’, but not the ‘rain cloud’ obviously! Sorry, bad joke but couldn’t help it. It also means you could have a virtual, flood proof, office on a nice warm beach somewhere.

Sandbag the office – permanently. This one also means that if we are invaded you’ll be ready to repel the invaders from your bunker.

Just don’t worry about it. Keep some wellies handy and use a flood as an excuse to stay at home with your feet up.

OK, so the last one is ridiculous for any business. However, you’d be surprised how many clients we have seen who just thought it wouldn’t happen to them. Also it may not be the rain that caused the water damage but a leaking pipe or the fire-fighters response to a fire in the office above. Whatever disaster may befall you ask yourself how you will recover your valuable paper records?

If you need help with dry and secure document storage or document scanning give us a call – we are very good at both!