Cybersecurity is no longer just something large companies need to be aware of and attacks are not just targeted toward organizations with lots of financial transactions. According to the American Bar Association, one in four legal firms experiences a data breach.
Unfortunately, anything connected to your network, including printers, can be an entry point for a data breach. However, there are solutions to help secure your infrastructure and ensure confidentiality for your business. uniFLOW has been known to help solve many confidentiality issues for companies such as legal firms with its identity authorization methods and limited access restrictions.
uniFLOW is a print management solution introduced by Canon that provides secure print rights and benefits such as central management, organization-wide planning, and decision-making management. It also provides HIPAA compliance and cost recovery/accounting software that helps users by giving their clients correct statistics of work performance on print and copy billing for chargeback purposes.
In this article, we'll cover the characteristics legal firms are searching for in their print management solutions, workflow issues they are experiencing, and the benefits of uniFLOW to these firms.
Going Green and Eliminating Waste
Usherwood is prioritizing utilizing products and technology that are better for the environment to assist our legal firm clients. These goals consist of going green, eliminating unnecessary paper use, and automating document workflows. The main priorities for Usherwood when engaging our legal clients are to help them improve document security, improve the search and discovery functions for their documents, integrate the print environment with their current legal and billing software, and help illuminate the sources of their print costs per user.
Workflow Software
The desired software for legal firms to assist with workflow generally include more flexible and personalized features. Market research and firsthand experience have shown us that law firms are looking for software solutions that will optimize, and automate their workflows, while also integrating with existing software solutions the firms are leveraging. Legal firms wish to have software reflecting personal MFP experiences designed particularly for the employees in their company. An ideal scenario for a print and software solution for a law firm would be to have a customizable experience that addresses the specific needs of their current document workflows and optimizes as many inefficiencies as possible.
With this, every worker can personalize their screens according to their job details and the easiest to navigate. Employees will be able to customize the screens they see on the multi-function printer to what suits them best, saving time and improving the end-user experience. This also includes only seeing icons and workflows specified with their position and level of access needed for their particular role.
Legal Cost Recovery Solution
Print/Document output in legal markets is one of the highest expenses aside from labor in terms of overall revenue for legal firms. Print expenditures for law firms is one of the highest, and least audited components of their overall organizational cost structure. To combat this, reverting to automated cost recovery systems would be a less expensive solution. One avenue to address these costs is by automating document workflows and putting in place user accounting software to better understand the source of these costs.
Legal Compliance and Security Solutions
Most compliance initiatives in legal firms are based on keeping confidential and personal information secure. This is exhibited through HIPPA, SafeHarbor, and the Patriot Act. Providing security around the Document is encouraged to secure confidentiality and personal information. Utilizing PDF encryption, DRM Digital Rights Management, and redaction functions within document management software, will increase document workflow security. With this, jobs will not be released until PIN codes or fobs are entered into the device to release them. Not only will the amount of waste be minimized, but it will also prevent users' information from falling into the wrong hands.
Legal Trends and Challenges
Legal firms have been seeing rising amounts and volumes of documents and content, leading to uncertainty about how to manage it all properly. A current trend in the legal sector is increased print volumes, which presents new difficulties with proper document management. Legal firms have also found challenges in the workflow of information and how to simplify it. Other troubles they are running into include utilizing tools to keep client confidentiality, securing MFP vulnerabilities, protecting their IT environments, and having an automated system that monitors all aspects of their business.
uniFLOW's Benefits for Multi-Tier Cost Centers
uniFLOW enables cost center selection for both desktop printers and networked MFPs. The software allows legal firms to track all document output per individual client by using multi-tiered cost centers. It also provides a comprehensive report for easy chargeback ability. Accurately charging back clients can assist with reducing overhead expenses and ensure no more lost revenue due to unaccountable document outputs.
Client document outputs can now be captured accurately, and thus they can then be billed accurately. Firms will now be able to grasp where the print costs are coming from, who's printing the most, and overall more granular data on print costs by user. Linked and lined cost center workflows also allow for more flexible setups and comprehensive reporting. With added flexibility and more accurate reports and outputs, there will be next to no limit to the number of levels allowed for enterprises to expand.
uniFLOW also gives some enhanced security features by segmenting off the print environment from the network. It creates a barrier for cyber-criminals and hackers to try and navigate through. Even if they manage to get into the platform, there's nothing they can do that would be useful for them at that point. uniFLOW is well-guarded and contains multiple layers of security.
uniFLOW Can Help
Usherwood has utilized Canon for a long time, and we have specialists whose sole job is working with solutions such as uniFLOW. We’ve assisted several legal firms with integrating solutions such as uniFLOW and have seen first-hand the software's positive impact on businesses.
Overall, Usherwood firmly believes uniFLOW can benefit many businesses. It has many features and integration capabilities, partially because it is only designed to work with Canon devices and thus is not limited to trying to work with multiple types of devices. It's a tight-knit hardware promising assistance with network security, expense reduction, document tracking, and organization planning. There's no need to worry further about unwanted network entries and incorrect chargebacks. uniFLOW is designed to help with all of that.
