Navigating security and compliance obstacles

Navigating security and compliance obstacles

Samppa Lahtinen shares how M-Files’ knowledge work automation platform offers a solution to the high-stakes challenge of maintaining security and compliance 

Guest contributor |


Today’s digital landscape means that navigating your organisation to a destination of top-level security and compliance can often feel like being trapped in a maze. One wrong turn can lead to crippling fines, loss of reputation and business closure. However, there is a way out – implementing a knowledge work automation platform that can not only enforce compliance and significantly reduce business risk but also automate compliance and data processes for superior productivity and data accuracy. 

Organisations face several challenges in maintaining security and compliance. Data leaks and non-compliance are major issues. Many organisations struggle with enforcing data retention rules and ensuring that only the right people have access to sensitive information. Inefficient compliance tools create huge workloads without guaranteeing results, and poor document control leads to inefficiencies and bottlenecks. Compliance often doesn't keep pace with the speed of business, resulting in unnecessary workloads and stressed employees. 

Organisations struggle with data leaks and non-compliance due to unauthorised access to sensitive information, poor control over document duplicates and versions, and lack of adherence to procedures. Without a systematic approach to record retention and disposal, they face regulatory breaches, data security risks and operational inefficiencies. These issues can lead to data breaches, regulatory fines and reputational damage. 

Furthermore, the use of unmanaged AI tools such as ChatGPT has increased significantly in corporate environments. Using unmanaged AI tools can lead to several potential consequences, including data breaches due to inadequate security measures, loss of confidential information as free external AI services may not enforce strict privacy policies, and compliance issues from utilising unapproved AI tools that result in non-compliance with industry regulations. All of this can severely damage your company’s reputation. 

M-Files addresses these challenges with a flexible approach to managing access and permissions, ensuring only authorised personnel access sensitive data and reducing data leak risks. It provides complete control over document versions, publishing and distribution, preventing unauthorised changes and duplication. Additionally, M-Files enforces compliance controls, ensuring employees follow procedures and records are retained and disposed of per regulations. This comprehensive approach enhances data security, ensures regulatory compliance and improves operational efficiency. 

A common mistake in many organisations is employees accidentally emailing the wrong document to external parties. M-Files mitigates this risk by using external access through Hubshare, which ensures that external users authenticate into the system before they can access shared documents. This reduces the number of document copies floating around, significantly improving operating efficiency. Incorporating AI capabilities further enhances these benefits by automating and streamlining document management processes. M-Files Aino is a natural language assistant that enhances security and compliance by providing easy access to information while ensuring all interactions are protected and governed by organisational policies. It automates compliance processes, mitigates risks and helps maintain data confidentiality and regulatory adherence. 

Organisations often struggle with inefficient compliance tools that create substantial workloads without guaranteeing results. These tools frequently lack robust data retention rule enforcement, making it difficult to systematically manage and retain critical information. Also, there is often an inability to ensure that only authorised personnel have access to sensitive data, leading to potential security breaches and non-compliance with regulatory requirements. These inefficiencies can result in increased operational costs, reduced productivity and heightened risk of regulatory penalties. 

To address these challenges, M-Files offers a comprehensive solution that provides full 360-degree views across existing and new data repositories, ensuring complete visibility and control over all information. The platform includes automated process controls and electronic audit trails, which streamline compliance activities and provide clear, traceable records of all actions taken. Additionally, M-Files features automated document permissions and approval workflows, ensuring that only the right people have access to sensitive information and that all documents are properly reviewed and approved. This automation enhances efficiency, reduces workloads and significantly improves compliance outcomes. 

Organisations can also often face significant difficulties due to poor document control, which arises from separated document management and compliance systems. This separation leads to inefficiencies and bottlenecks, as compliance processes struggle to keep pace with the speed of business. As a result, audits create unnecessary workloads, and employees feel stressed, believing they need to perform extra, manual tasks to manage compliance effectively. These issues can severely impact productivity and increase the risk of non-compliance. 

To overcome these obstacles, M-Files offers a solution that helps only the right people find the right information through access limits, ensuring data security and reducing the risk of unauthorised access. The platform improves productivity by implementing workflows that automate compliance logging, minimising manual tasks and reducing employee stress. Furthermore, M-Files streamlines the audit process with automated audit trails and immediate access to critical information, making compliance more efficient and less burdensome. This comprehensive approach enhances overall operational efficiency and ensures that compliance processes align with the speed of business. 

Navigating the complex landscape of security and compliance is no easy task, but with the right tools, it becomes manageable. M-Files provides a robust array of built-in security and compliance capabilities, including permissions management, to help enforce security and compliance. M-Files’ quality management solution makes audits even more effective by enforcing a set of quality processes, resources and controls. 

For organisations looking to enhance their security and compliance measures, M-Files offers a solution that can deliver more efficient and reliable results.  

Samppa Lahtinen

Samppa Lahtinen is senior industry solutions manager at M-Files 

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