Electronic document management has gone a long way since those early days.
From the file cabinet to the server, efficiency and security have gone up significantly. New technologies today are providing additional opportunities for the enhancement of document management.
Biometric data is one such advancement. Its use in regular corporate applications seemed like science fiction just a decade ago. Today, biometrics are used to unlock devices, ensure personal access, and reduce security risks in an array of technological areas.
Could electronic document management benefit from the implementation of biometrics and can such data be considered the future of data safety? Here’s what the latest trends and facts reveal about this kind of possibility.
How Can Biometrics Be Incorporated into Electronic Document Management?
Document management systems already feature lots of innovative security features aimed at restricting unauthorized access.
Encryption and password protection, security logs, and extensive verification procedures are already in place to eliminate a wide array of security risks.
The widespread adoption of biometric data access, however, could enhance document security even further.
Just think about how common types of smartphones, tablets, and other personal devices are being accessed. You have to provide a fingerprint, an iris scan, or a face scan for recognition before going into the gadget.
A similar type of data “unlocking” is easy to introduce in the realm of document management.
Right now, electronic and cloud-based document management systems involve the manual entry of permission and access levels. In the future, the process could be automated through the taking of biometric data and the assigning of roles that match the credentials of each individual.
The Benefits of Biometric Security
Introducing biometric recognition in the realm of document management will obviously enhance security features even further and reduce the risk of human error.
One study suggests that 90 percent of data breaches are the result of human error. Phishing, brute attacks, and password vulnerabilities contribute to the largest percentage of successful data hacking. Through the incorporation of biometric security, some of these problems can be eliminated altogether.
Biometric data scanning can replace password entry altogether. The removal of the password gets rid of an entire field that leads to major security vulnerabilities. Even if an organization has strict password creation and protection policies in place, there’s still a lot of room for error.
On top of that, biometric electronic document management can benefit organizations in several additional ways:
– Ensures full legal validity of data entry
– Faster access to essential data on the go
– The creation of segments within the document management system, ensuring access solely to the information needed to do one’s job
– Convenient and practical user experience (usually, no training is required)
– Secure enough to provide a wide range of applications in financial, governmental, and other highly sensitive sectors
– Biometric data is almost impossible to fake or steal
Is Widespread Biometric Adoption Even Possible in the Corporate World?
The advantages of biometric security for electronic document management are very easy to see but is the technology versatile enough for widespread adoption?
The truth of the matter is that various organizations across the world implement such cloud-based document security measures to protect sensitive data.
A CNN report published suggests that companies had already implemented fingerprint and biometric identity verifications as a part of their security protocols.
At the time, the level of biometric identification was 62 percent across organizations in the US. A report shows that 60 percent of global security decision-makers aim to introduce or expand their use of biometric security over the course of the year.
Some of the companies that have already made the switch include Microsoft, Apple, PayPal, Alibaba, and various others. Even startups and niche industry representatives are starting to make good use of the technology.
If you search for electronic document management with biometric authentication, you will come across many platforms and solutions that incorporate such capabilities. And while some logistical challenges may still stand in the way of the trend’s widespread adoption, biometric data will probably start playing an even more important role in the corporate world over the coming years.
Final Verdict
Biometric technology has a powerful range of applications in the realm of document management.
It’s a misconception that biometrics is a fairly new field. Advances in that area have been ongoing for decades. Now, biometric authentication is simply becoming more readily available through the introduction of hardware with the right capabilities.
Thinking about biometric security should be a long-term project for your organization. Sooner or later, this form of authentication will become the norm (we’re already seeing a move in that direction). While you may think that biometrics are going to be taking ID verification a step too far right now, chances are that such protocols will become the standard in the future.
As biometric technology becomes more affordable, its adoption will grow. This is why you may want to keep an eye on such possibilities, moving on to adoption at a time when you feel ready for such a switch.