Document Storage And Management For Energy & Utilities Industry

Within the energy and utility sectors there are wide ranging implications to those companies that don’t adhere to strict regulations. These regulations cover a wide range of aspects of operational processes, including the secure storage of potentially sensitive and personal information relating to clients, as well as all personnel records of employees and agreements between suppliers. In order to ensure that compliance is not just being paid lip service to, and that all documents and pieces of information are being dealt with in a respectful and efficient manner, especially when it comes to end-of-life cycle of documents, a system of professional document management and storage for the energy and utilities sector is required.

The energy and utilities sector continues to work at a hectic fast pace with plentiful new data being added on a daily basis. There are myriad legal requirements relating to the secure storage and backing-up of information in relation to the Data Protection Act. One example of this that is relevant to the energy and utilities sector is that all transactions have to be in compliance with the Climate Change Levy Agreements, set out by HMRC. In these instances all transactions have to be fully auditable, tracked and traced upon demand. When it comes to local authorities, they too often require energy companies in that specific area to demonstrate the ability to back up consumer data in order to pass tender processes and due diligence, prior to acceptance to conduct business within a new territory.

Working with a service that looks after the creation of digital documentation, helps you to implement a secure and efficient system of working with that documentation, and also stores and backs up all digital and physical data that a utility and energy company creates, can take away many of the stresses and headaches relating to these strict regulations.

It is also beneficial to find a document management service that allows a company to tailor processes according to its own pressures and possibilities. Not only is it beneficial to companies to adhere to the regulations laid out by law, but also as a way of inspiring belief and confidence in consumers, in a volatile marketplace where all people want is the faith that their personal information is being looked after accordingly, and destroyed in a secure fashion when it is no longer pertinent to the company holding the information.

A document management system can help a utility and energy company to improve day-to-day efficiencies, allowing employees to gain instant access to quotes and price comparisons in order to provide customers with information they are asking for, immediately. It also ensures that should there be an outage or similar problem with information, that all data is securely backed-up, with a process in place to reinstall data and get systems back up and running as quickly as possible in order to minimise disruption to work time and keep customers satisfied.

On top of that it allows for the planning and implementation of a long-term phase to securely store important historical data, whilst creating a paperless culture moving forward, with clear guidelines on how to dispose of documents when the time is right, with time warnings on all documents where necessary

Ashley Martin