Developing answers to tomorrow’s document management security challenges

Greg Griffith, Hardware Product Manager at Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa.

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It has been widely documented that COVID-19 has significantly accelerated the pace of digital transformation. Even the most resistant companies have had to adopt ‘working from home’, cloud or hybrid work models as they adapt to life under a pandemic. And, now that employees have had the opportunity to experience the benefits of remote working, it’s a trend that’s likely to remain and grow well beyond the pandemic.

While there are many social, and even economic advantages to remote working, the rapid pace at which most companies had to adapt to this new model has created complexity around the administration and security of devices, both on and off site, and left many businesses exposed to cyber security threats – in fact, auditing firm Deloitte has reported a spike in phishing attacks, MalSpam and ransomware attacks since the start of COVID-19.

“As any company that has experienced a data breach will understand, this is exceptionally bad news for businesses, resulting in downtime costs, fines associated with corporate governance and regulatory compliance, as well as reputational damage,” says Greg Griffith, Hardware Product Manager at Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa.

“In this regard, print and document infrastructure breaches are no different from other security lapses. With the rise of automation and other digital solutions, data security and document solutions have become intertwined, and can no longer be viewed as separate entities.”

Take back control

Regardless of where they are based, teams need to print, scan and share documents, which means employers need to provide a secure document management system by migrating to secure cloud software so that their teams can collaborate effectively.

It is also critical to maintain control across devices, a task that is made much easier if companies opt for a standardised fleet of printers and multifunction devices.

It is in this area that Kyocera Document Solutions is proving its position of strength having been awarded “Major Player” status by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services and events in ICT, in its IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Security Solutions and Services Hardcopy 2019-2020 Vendor Assessment.

With the biggest challenge in print security nowadays being the shift from locally hosted servers to the cloud, Kyocera’s expertise in designing and implementing secure, agile document management solutions that meet the changing needs of the modern enterprise.

The approach to print security focuses on four key areas, namely:

1. Device-level protection
2. Authentication
3. Software or SaaS
4. Consulting services

In recent years, Kyocera has strengthened its enterprise content management, business process outsourcing (BPO) and content services-related solutions to help customers digitise paper-based processes and automate workflows. The comprehensive approach to print and document security has positioned the company as a trusted security advisor.

“Our expertise in document workflow combined with the company's broad security solutions portfolio provides a strong foundation for addressing specific security threats, especially within the SMB sector,” says Griffith.

“As technology becomes more complex, so do the problems businesses face. Kyocera is developing answers to the challenges of the future and aims to provide our customers with a minimised security risk office environment. We are evolving our devices and solutions with industry-leading security features and strengthening our security services capability through partnership and acquisition," added Griffith.

“With work models becoming more agile, cyber security needs to remain top of mind and companies would be wise to continually evaluate and bolster their defence against an increasing and wily force of cyber criminals,” concludes Griffith.