In certain
professions, such as the law field and healthcare industry, maintaining every
client's confidentiality is a legal requirement. Even if you don't face that
legal restriction, you may want to promise confidentiality to your clients or
customers as a means of engendering trust. In either situation, these practices
can help you maintain stricter control over who has access to client
information.
Close
Down the Gossip Mill
The first
thing you should do is ensure everyone on your staff is going to be tight-lipped
as they will also have to interact with your clients. The best solution to this
challenge is to ensure every employee, including yourself, signs a
comprehensive NDA (non-disclosure agreement). If you use professional legal transcription services in
the office, those third-party professionals should have to sign a similar
agreement. This ensures all of the personnel who work in your office are aware
of the need for confidentiality, and the use of the agreements will also show
them that you take your guarantee of privacy seriously. Make sure your
employees understand that the NDA extends to text messages and social media
posts as well as to barroom gossip.
Use
a Two-Step Protocol For Digital Storage
From
commercial businesses to small law firms, almost everyone is making use of
cloud technology to store important and sensitive documents. In addition to
helping you store documents without requiring vast amounts of physical space,
cloud technology allows you to limit who is authorized to view private
documents. To enhance the security of your cloud account, you should be
utilizing a two-step cybersecurity protocol. The first step is to require
employees to use a VPN (virtual private network) anytime the cloud account is
accessed. The second step is to ensure the cloud account is protected by a
password that's changed once every 30 days. These steps will lower your risks
of a data breach.
Limit
Access to Hard Copies
Under
certain circumstances, it will be necessary to print hard copies of some
documents. As a rule, you should only print documents when it's absolutely
necessary to reduce the chance that an unauthorized individual will
accidentally be exposed to that information. Once the document has been used as
intended, it should either be incinerated or shredded to prevent others from
viewing the information. The blank sides of sensitive documents should never be
reused as a means of saving paper.
Keep
It Personal
Even
though it may be more convenient to communicate with a client via email or text
message, you should avoid using technology to share sensitive information. Just
as celebrities have been hacked and had their personal messages and photos
shared with the world, your clients' confidentiality can also be exposed in a
similar fashion. Emails and text messages can be used to verify appointments,
but, otherwise, communication should be made in person. In the current
technological age, even a phone call may be overheard or recorded without
either party's knowledge.
Always
Conduct Background Checks
Before you hire anyone new, be sure to conduct background checks. In addition to checking out a candidate's criminal and credit history, it may be important to look into their personal history. Especially if you're an attorney, someone who is working for your opponent may be trying to gain access to your records. Alternatively, a disgruntled employee may offer to sell data to an unethical competitor. To prevent that situation, you should ensure all access authorizations and keys are either canceled or returned upon an employee's termination or departure.
Maintaining
confidentiality will work for you as a marketing tool as well as helping your
clients stay safe. As your clients learn that they can trust you to maintain
their privacy, they will recommend you to their friends and co-workers. Over
time, you'll earn a positive reputation for providing discretion and
confidentiality, which can help you rise above your competitors.
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