1. Enable point-of-receipt capture. While many are focused on threats to digital files, paper-based records such as admissions applications are incredibly vulnerable because they don’t take any particular expertise to compromise. Just-received paper records pose even more of a problem, as they have not yet entered the system and can be misplaced and forgotten – errors happen no matter how excellent a department’s administrators are.

To address this issue, it’s important to digitize incoming records as quickly as possible, which ideally means digitizing information at the point of receipt. Many colleges and universities have solutions – digital fax, which automatically captures electronic versions of incoming faxed documents; mobile capture, which enables prospective students to take pictures of documents with their tablets and smartphones and submit them directly to the admissions workflow; and automation solutions, which funnel incoming mailed documents directly into the admissions process.

2. Choosing secure storage. Digitization is an important starting point, but making sure information is secure in its digital form is the crux of the issue of admissions records security. It’s important to find the right kind of management and storage, whether that includes the cloud, on-site or off-site solutions. While different universities have different storage needs, security is always essential.

Ben Ruch, Senior Region Manager, Higher Education for Ricoh USA, Inc., works with colleges and universities to provide Professional Services, Managed Services and Business Process Outsourcing Solutions that simplify processes, automate paper-based workflow and improve speed of information. Ruch has over 23 years of experience in the industry and expertise in production printing systems solutions and professional services solution.