Digital mailroom
opened, prepared and scanned. EDM will
use intelligent data capture technologies
to index and classify all correspondence
and forms before presenting digital
images and associated metadata in an
agreed format for uploading directly to
HMRC’s digital document management
repository. From there, HMRC staff
will access and carry out business
processes arising from each piece of
correspondence.
Sam Ferguson, CEO of EDM Group,
said: “Our experience with HMRC will
signpost the way forward for other public
sector organisations in meeting the
challenge of the government’s Digital by
Default agenda.
“EDM is by far the UK’s leading
provider of digitisation services of this
kind and we have geared our operations
up to deliver rapid ROI for organisations
seeking to achieve step change efficiency
gains whilst reducing costs, improving
service, security and risk management.
We’ve done all of this in the private
sector and are delighted that the public
sector, led by numerous NHS Trusts and
now HMRC are taking bold steps to
follow suit.”
In addition to its digitisation and
capture capabilities and proven EDM
Online document repository, EDM has
developed a range of business process
management/workflow solutions that
enable public sector organisations to
achieve efficiencies in business process
handling.
The perfect storm
magazine
36
Continued...
Following the recent spate of
data breaches at Domino’s Pizza,
eBay, Spotify and retailer Office,
Toyin Adelakun, VP at authentication
specialists Sestus, gives ten reasons
why such breaches are happening
more often.
1.
Hackers are getting better at hacking, i.e. breaking
through the defences of target organisations and
technology providers;
2.
Hackers are getting more plentiful in number, and
also more prolific in their efforts, leading to a natural
growth in the raw numbers of successful attacks;
3.
Technology providers are falling behind in their efforts
at providing organisations with adequate means to
protect their information assets;
4.
Target organisations are getting worse at defending
their information assets;
5.
Target organisations are getting better at detecting
breaches of their information security defences –
in real time, via intrusion-detection technology; or
retrospectively, via audit procedures;
6.
Target organisations are getting bolder about
disclosing breaches of their information security
defences – by force of regulatory obligation, under
threat of exposure (by the hackers themselves), or in
the public-spirited nature of best-practice;
7.
Information assets are themselves getting more
plentiful, leading to a raising of the stakes;
8.
Information assets are simultaneously getting more
valuable, leading to a raising of the stakes;
9.
End-users, administrators and owners of information
assets are getting more careless, inattentive,
susceptible, and/or vulnerable; and
10.
There is a gathering storm or perfect storm of any
plural number of the above.
A sobering coda: for every publicised breach, there
are multiple breaches that are a) undisclosed and
b) undetected.
The Domino’s
pizza hack
is the latest
in a spate
of security
breaches
The number of information security breaches affecting UK
businesses has decreased over the last year, but the scale and
cost of individual breaches has almost doubled. The Information
Security Breaches Survey 2014, commissioned by the Department
for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and carried out by PwC,
found that 81% of large organisations suffered a security breach,
down from 86% a year ago; 60% of small businesses reported
a breach, down from 64% in 2013. Although organisations are
experiencing fewer breaches overall, the severity and impact of
attacks has increased, with the average cost of an organisation’s
worst breach rising significantly for the third consecutive year. For
small organisations, the worst breaches cost between £65,000
and £115,000 on average and for large organisations between
£600,000 and £1.15 million.
Following the integration of ABBYY
software into its existing workflow system,
Moore Blatch now receives immediate
notification of document arrivals, ensuring
quicker decision cycles and better
compliancy and records management.
Furthermore, the reduction in paper use
means that the firm now spends less on
printing/copying, distribution and storage.
Information is dynamically extracted
and used for indexing in the firm’s Practice
Management Systems, eliminating the
need for manual indexing, apart from
exceptions. Documents can be indexed by
type and content (e.g. invoice due date),
making them fully searchable and editable
in the future.
To maintain document security,
procedures are in place if recognition of a
document falls below an agreed level of
acceptability. The document in question is
referred to a verification role to ensure the
data is accurate before returning to the
automated process.
Moore Blatch partner Paul Walshe said:
“Eliminating manual post distribution was
essential, as we were spending a lot of
time distributing and filing documents.
The solution has enabled us to reduce our
administration over-heads and accelerate
the process of document delivery resulting
in improved client relationships.We now
have a solution that can scale as our
company continues to grow.”
HMRC contract
At the far end of the scale, HMRC recently
awarded EDM Group a £4 million,
three-year contract to digitise, index and
manage the 20 million pieces of inbound
mail it receives each year.
A key element of HM Government’s
Digital by Default strategy, the contract is
part of HMRC’s programme to transform
how it deals with businesses and citizens
via paper channels, helping HMRC to
reduce post handling costs and improve
its workflow. EDM’s solution will enable
HMRC to track inbound correspondence
online within days rather than weeks.
It is built around EDM’s industry-
leading secure Digital Mailroom
production hubs inWolverhampton,
where all HMRC post will be securely
Sam Ferguson, CEO of EDM Group
