Richards & Richards

For those who wonder, it was 20 years ago on April 30, 1993 that the first website was born.  The website was created by CERN, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research and its URL is below.

http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

This link from pcmag.com http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2418330,00.asp has the information on how this all happened.

With April 15th coming up, we always hear this question. How long should I keep those tax records?

Here is our advice – and remember these are for your personal returns only, not business and if you have special circumstances contact your CPA and/or attorney for more information.

Keep for One Year

Your monthly statements of any financial accounts should be kept for one year. All paycheck statements, your W-2 form, and your retirement plan year-end statement. After you receive your W-2 form and check it against the last pay statement for the year, you can then shred and discard all paycheck statements.

Keep for Three Years

You should keep your federal income tax returns and related receipts and statements for at least three years. If you are audited, the IRS can review tax returns filed during the past three years, which includes requesting to see supporting documentation for the income and deductions you reported. As an example, you will need to keep your 2010 tax return and related papers until you file your 2013 tax return. It is generally safe to shred and discard it if after that. For more information see IRS Publication 552, Record keeping for Individuals.

How do I get rid of records I don’t need?

Glad you asked. With the threats of identity theft, you can never be too cautious about getting rid of records you don’t need. That is why we have a free shred day coming up on April 20th from 9am to 1pm. Just bring those old records to our facility at 1741 Elm Hill Pike and we are happy to securely shred those documents for you. Don’t just throw them away in the trash.

We’re sure you have heard this topic come up before.  But what is “cloud computing” and how does it affect me?  We have thought of this too.  That’s why we are offering a free education seminar on cloud computing and how you can benefit from it.  During the seminar, you will learn about the different types of data you use, different recovery times, and the different ways to manage this information.  You will also learn how a local company used these services to recover from the May 2010 flood here in Nashville.  Please contact us at dale@richardsandrichards.com to register for our free seminar on March 20^th at 8:30am.  Those who have attended previous sessions left with the knowledge needed to make sure they have a plan in place in case they cannot access their facility or information.

In a perfect world, where human error and malicious intent did not exist, we would not need to be prepared for a data breach. However, the fact is that most business will have some sort of “data-loss” incident that will warrant the use of data breach protocols. Remember – in today’s electronic world a lost USB drive, misplaced cell phone or a stolen laptop can account for a significant data breach.

Fires, floods and tornadoes are very real threats to your business continuity. In the event of disasters like these, without proper contingency plans your critical business data can be severely compromised or completely lost. Fortunately, most disaster recovery plans include preparations and protocol to account for such natural disasters. And luckily, most businesses aren’t affected by natural catastrophic occurrences. Actually, there’s a higher likelihood of your data being affected by seldom-considered, everyday threats.

Are you prepared for everyday threats?

Have you thought about what would happen if you accidentally deleted a critical business file or application? How would you handle the random crash of a server? What if the person charged with taking the company backup home left it in their car on a hot and humid night, rendering the data unreadable? Would you be able to recover from your computer network being hacked?

These are very real everyday threats to business data that can be just as devastating as any natural disaster. Your disaster recovery plan should recognize and plan for such risks. You can begin by asking yourself key questions such as:

Solutions to enhance recovery goals

Once you’ve identified areas of weakness, you can look for a remediation plan that takes into consideration all possible scenarios. This may include implementation of the following solutions:

Serving businesses in Nashville for over 25 years, Richards & Richards offers a comprehensive suite of data protection services. For more information about how we can increase the scope of your disaster recovery goals, please contact us by phone or fill in the form on the page.

With all of the warnings we get about identity theft, how seriously do we heed those warnings? One of the most obvious ways to combat identity theft is by frequent password changes. Yet, how often does that happen?

Changing passwords is a chore. Most programs at your workplace need one. In order to get anything from a website you need one. You even need one to unlock your smartphone.

It seems to be a pain but changing your password should be a part of your normal procedures for both your work environment and home environment – especially if you do any on-line banking. Most experts recommend that you change your password every 90 days or so. But if this seems too much, I would recommend that every time you change the clocks for daylight savings time, you change your passwords (along with your fire alarm batteries). The password should include upper and lower case letters, numbers and some punctuation. These are the hardest passwords to figure out. Make sure you don’t base your password on any personal information, like family members or birth dates. There are programs that you can buy that will manage your passwords for you, so that all you have to know is one password. By changing your password regularly, you are taking an important step in keeping your personal information secure.

Getting your identity back after it’s been stolen can be a challenging thing. So, change those passwords.

While paper may never entirely go away, technological advances have certainly made it easier to reduce the amount generated within the office environment. Desktop scanning devices enable one to easily convert a handful of hardcopy documents to digital images, and even ordinary printers are now equipped with scanning capabilities. These tools can certainly help save time and help businesses become better organized. It’s no wonder that many companies hope to go paperless altogether.

Scanning a file folder full of paper is not the same as converting your organization’s entire collection of records, however. Many companies begin large scale scanning projects only to abandon them shortly after they’ve begun. They simply don’t have the time, internal resources and expertise to achieve success with scanning projects of that magnitude.

It’s important to consider the various steps and factors that go into any scanning project so that your business doesn’t get in over its head. A systematic approach is necessary when dealing with corporate records which often represent your business’s most valuable assets. The problem with scanning projects is that important documents can easily be misplaced, mislabeled and misfiled. Keen detail needs to be applied in order to ensure that scanned records are properly sorted, labeled and indexed, both prior and subsequent to being converted to digital files. Additionally, a review process needs to be incorporated to make sure that all data is captured. It’s also imperative to plan how you’re going to manage your electronic documents.

In short, these kinds of precautions are probably not your organization’s core competencies. Some companies may try to skirt this reality by hiring seasonal or temporary staff to assist with scanning projects without realizing likely cost overruns or compromised data. They may not have the proper knowledge nor have your organization’s best interests in mind.

The best solution is hiring a professional document scanning partner who can implement the proper procedures, standards and expertise necessary for achieving success. Past performance, records and information management knowledge and the ability to provide a full scale document management solution are all key factors in deciding which scanning and imaging partner to choose.

Consider Richards & Richards: for over 25 years we’ve provided businesses in Nashville with comprehensive document scanning services. For more information about how we can help your organization achieve success with its next scanning and imaging project, please contact us by phone or fill in the form on the page.