In terms of earnings, the financial services industry is one of the largest markets in the world. It encompasses a wide variety of businesses and services including banks, securities firms, insurance companies, mutual fund organizations, investment banks, pension funds and mortgage lenders.

The Financial Services Market
In the financial services marketplace, information security, reliable recordkeeping and regulatory compliance are core elements of a solid financial foundation. The protection and security of information is necessary to build customer trust, maintain compliance with the law and protect the company reputation. Affordable, easy-to-use enterprise content management (ECM) assists financial institutions with:

• Maintaining information security, confidentiality and customer privacy.
• Tracking system activity and information disclosures for enhanced compliance and accountability.
• Preserving the accuracy and reliability of the document archive.

An AIIM study states financial service companies identified improved compliance, increased productivity and increased customer satisfaction as the three most important potential benefits of ECM systems. In addition, 59.7% of banking and finance companies do not yet use an ECM system as their basic approach toward meeting compliance requirements, according to AIIM compliance survey results.

Privacy Protection Builds Customer Confidence and Trust
Protecting customers' non-public information and controlling how customer information is collected, secured and used are top priorities for financial institutions that need to mitigate IT security risks. ECM technology needs to provide comprehensive and flexible security settings that protect information throughout the document lifecycle. Look for systems that offer:

• 256-bit AES data encryption both during transmission and when data is stored, so financial statements are guarded at every step.
• Configurable security policies to control information access and restrict user abilities.
• Redaction that limits the viewing of sensitive information within a loan application to maintain confidentiality.
• Login security to control network traffic and block unauthorized transmissions.

System Auditing and Controlled Disclosures Enhance Compliance
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Gramm-Leach Bliley Act and other laws require companies to monitor disclosures, explain how customer information is shared and validate internal security controls and compliant procedures. ECM products should allow companies to securely share information, confirm system settings and provide evidence of system usage. Look for a system that has:

• Document history reports with detailed records of all documents that are accessed by a user and that track activity for increased accountability with financial reporting processes.
• Email management for non-repudiation that verifies message integrity and displays only the originally captured version of an email message.
• Enhanced auditing that allows users to share information only with those on a pre-approved list and records all disclosures.
• Document grants to allow customers secure, web-based access to documents for a specific time period.

ECM Ensures System Accuracy and Reliability
The integrity, accuracy and reliability of document archives are of utmost importance in the financial industry. Timely and reliable information is essential to process transactions and support decision making at all levels. ECM technology that makes it possible for institutions to ensure accuracy and have confidence in their information system is crucial. Find systems with:

• Version controls to make sure users have the most recent documents.
• Workflow that ensures specific conditions are met before routing documents through automated procedural steps.
• Built-in data redundancy to eliminate the potential for hardware failures affecting information availability.
• Backup processing and data replication to simplify the disaster recovery process.

About Digitech Systems, Inc.
Digitech Systems, Inc. enables businesses of any size to more effectively and securely manage, retrieve and store corporate information of any kind using either PaperVision Enterprise content management (ECM) software or the world's most trusted SaaS ECM service, ImageSilo. By significantly reducing the cost, Digitech Systems has moved ECM from a luxury convenience to an essential element for every well-managed business. To learn more about the company's software and services, visit www.digitechsystems.com.