Posts Tagged ‘Word’
How Business Rubber Stamps Are Expensive And Ineffective
Business rubber stamps were popular in the mid-twentieth century for identifying business documents. At that time they were possibly the best way to achieve document security. But, today they are expensive and can create more problems than they solve.
A single rubber stamp is quite expensive but more than one is always required. Business documents usually require multiple copies for a number of people. Just about every document requires at least two copies. One copy is kept by the author and another is sent out. This means two different stamps are required to identify which copy is for which person. Everyone who is producing documents will want at least two stamps, and probably more for other purposes as well.
The manual stamping process is time consuming and boring for individuals. Doing more than one copy or every page of every copy is monotonous. This is time that could be better spent on activities that help the business service its customers, and become more successful.
Human error is prevalent in the stamping process. It is hard for people to keep their concentration on such a mundane task. As a result pages can be missed or the wrong stamp could be used. Either one can cause large security problems, and in the least require more time to be spent correcting the errors.
Have you ever tried to read a page that has been stamped with ink? The ink can blur the content and sometimes obscure it altogether. However, if you place the stamp in the blank area of the page it is quite easy for someone to cover it up and produce a copy without any stamp at all.
Anyone can have a rubber stamp made up. There is no guarantee that the stamp has been placed on the document by someone authorized to do so. People also usually leave stamps sitting on the desk. When they are not at their desk, anyone walking past can pick it up and use it. Then, they can circulate a document as if it is a legitimate copy.
Stamps also get lost and stolen. Even when you replace it there is no guarantee that the original is not still being used for inappropriate purposes. Signature stamps are particularly at risk and need a secure place to be locked away when not in use.
Efficiency and effectiveness suffer when business rubber stamps are used to identify documents. They are expensive to purchase, are easily misplaced and take up unnecessary time. When people make mistakes more time is wasted. The physical nature of stamps also makes them easy to steal or have fakes created which defeats the purpose for which they are being used.
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How to Prevent Alteration of Paper Documents
Using rubber stamps or manual watermarks for business document management can be a tough habit to break. And, it can pose serious risks to your document security and data — and your business — particularly where there are multiple copies of a multi-page document that must be identified and distributed. Finally, if the document is given on to another person, how do you ensure its purpose and intent are maintained?
Efficient Document Management cannot be done manually without inviting risk into the document’s lifecycle. Moreover, the manual process usually involves using a remote copy machine that results in substantial wasted time. If only one trip per day to a copy machine is eliminated, the savings per year/per worker approach $800. Further, the only way a rubber stamp can truly be effective at preserving the intent or purpose of a document is to obliterate part of the text — that’s not exactly a recipe for effective communication. Similarly, electronic documents like PDF can be printed with the same quality as a Word document. And that is the reason that electronic documents, like paper, should be labeled and identified when they are created.
If a paper document is to be secure and protected – particularly one with multiple pages – each page of the document must be identified in a manner that precludes alteration. Certainly a rubber stamp doesn’t work here. Where multiple copies of the document are intended for different recipients, those copies should be similarly marked to indicate the recipient and/or purpose, e.g. “Client Copy,” “Marketing,” “Privileged,” Not for Release, etc. Otherwise, at least the first page of each copy needs to be stamped – which is a risky practice.
In most business settings, this process requires a collection of standard and custom rubber stamps which is neither efficient or economic. And, they’re messy. Some enterprises have adopted the “header/footer” form of identification which, while identifying the document, offers minimal if any real protection or document security similar to the rubber stamp in the margin that is minimally effective, if at all. Others have employed the use of manually inserted and removed watermarks.
A multiple page paper document is often identified by using a rubber stamp on the first page of the document and, that marking is in the margin so as not to obliterate text. This is poor document management and makes the document highly susceptible to alteration of content or intent. Current generation digital copiers permit the distinction be original and duplicate to virtually disappear once the stamp is “removed” from the first page. The same issue exists with watermarks by making a simple contrast adjustment on the copier of scanner.
A recent review of the Epson GT-S50 scanner on Amazon noted: “. . .The Epson also has the ability to drop out colors, which is useful when scanning something printed on colored paper. It would also be useful if you need to remove a red “confidential” or “top secret” stamp from a borrowed document. 
” See the Epson GT-S50 review by W.B. Halper.
Rubber stamps, usually placed in the margins of paper documents, do not provide paper document security or protection. In order to use a rubber stamp, it has to exist (i.e., the appropriate stamp) and manual application of the stamp is not only inconvenient, but it costs time and money in addition to the permanent risk being created.
PDF files, in most cases, originate from a Word document. If the PDF file is unmarked, then the document can be printed without any restrictive indicia embedded in the text of the document. From this point, the document can be altered and rescanned to a PDF. Thus, the PDF file is no more secure than the original Word document if it is not marked in an manner that precludes alteration of the printed result. Marking PDF files at the time of creation as well as marking printed documents WHEN then are printed is the only way to reduce document security risk.
Not identifying the purpose or intent of a document is a choice that is made when the document is created. Leaving the document unidentified is taking an unnecessary risk. The costs of such risk can be astronomical not to mention the resulting embarrassment and/or inconvenience. All the tools to effect proper paper and PDF document labeling and branding are there. StampIt makes the simple, smart and easy to use.
StampIt is an automated method for dealing with the paper element of document management. Rubber stamps can be discarded and fiddling with headers/footers or watermarks is over. Get the FREE TRIAL and see how your paper and PDF documents should be protected.