Image by: Besjunior, ©2018 Getty Images
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more ingrained into our daily lives, we are starting to do things very differently. According to a recent article, the rise of voice recognition capabilities, which are based on AI technologies, could mean that people won't even type anymore. AI also has the power to dramatically change how people work and alter core processes as we know them, such as those found in document management. In fact, AI is poised to make document management easier and faster in a variety of ways.
Many AI strategies address the issue of security, identifying certain words like "confidential" or sensitive information, such as social security numbers, and restricting access to these types of documents. However, this does not mean that AI eliminates the possibility of security lapses entirely. As organizations increasingly adopt AI for document management, they must also address the need for greater security to protect against such lapses, which can be both intentional and unintentional.
Setting a Secure Foundation for Automated Workflows
As organizations strive to automate inefficient and manually intensive document workflows, decision makers will mix and match functionalities to create custom solutions for their needs, addressing their unique business problems and inventing new, innovative workflows in the process. This is essential for remote and departmental workers to be able to process and move information with the speed, control, and accuracy required for successful digital transformation.Whether it's an autonomous factory robot or a self-driving car, one of the shortcomings with AI technology is common sense. For AI-enabled document workflows, organizations must build in ways to prevent automated processes from accidentally leaking sensitive data, such as protected health information or personally identifiable information (PII). Designing security considerations into AI-enabled document management workflows will go a long way in helping organizations to meet their compliance requirements. Not only do automated workflows reduce error-prone manual processes, but they also enable new levels of efficiency by automating many time-draining tasks. However, added security precautions are still a must.
One such precaution is considering multifunction printer (MFP)-level security, which can create an added layer of protection and can safeguard documents as they enter automated processes. Setting barriers for what can be scanned or printed prevents documents that shouldn't be captured or entered into systems. Setting parameters for MFPs to redact, encrypt, or automatically delete files will dramatically limit the information that is put at risk. Also, organizations can implement protocols that ensure print jobs are only released when a privileged user is physically present at the device.
Limiting who can open, edit, print, or share certain files eliminates the possibility of an accidental data breach. However, if data breaches do occur, they must be reported and tracked. For example, if an automated process experiences a system-related error that results in a sensitive file being shared with unauthorized users, it is important that organizations have an audit trail for the documents and electronic files as they are routed to different systems and people. This will help them achieve a higher level of compliance.
Is Your Document Strategy Ready for AI?
AI will enable enterprises of any size to develop and deploy intuitive workflows that automate unproductive, error-prone, and manual information processing tasks. Enterprises will soon be able to create workflows with integrated document capture and secure print and document transformation applications supported by AI to create more efficient, streamlined processes. This is the backbone of digital transformation, but these benefits will be for naught if they result in a security breach.Chief information officers and decision makers can put themselves in the best position for success by ensuring that proper security measures have been put in place before implementing automated workflows. No matter the industry, there are benefits to automating the data collection and review process for paper-based and electronic files, but these initiatives require a dual focus on security measures to address remaining blind spots.
Chris Strammiello has more than 15 years experience in the imaging industry and directs the worldwide Marketing and Product organizations for the Nuance Imaging Solutions. For more information, visit www.nuance.com or follow them on Twitter @Nuanceimage.
