LONDON, March 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- New research from Ricoh (http://www.ricoh-europe.com/) reveals that financial services companies across Europe are unintentionally putting their confidential information at risk. At the heart of the issue is the lack of a centralised document governance strategy.
The research (http://research.ricoh-europe.com/) also includes business leaders from the professional services, public services, telecommunications, utilities and media sectors. The findings show that the financial industry is the least likely to have a policy in place to restrict the printing of customer information with just 46 per cent confirming that they have implemented a formal policy. Just 33 per cent of public sector organisations have a fully implemented document security strategy. The number rises to 43 per cent in Professional Services and 48 per cent in Telecommunications/Utilities/Media. Overall, the results show that even the most regulated industries can be doing more to protect confidential information and govern their documents more effectively.
As one would expect, the majority of European business leaders have a strong understanding of the need for document security and almost half of the respondents (49 percent) are equally concerned about the risks from digital and printed information. Yet, despite the awareness, it is the minority that are proactively implementing policies to protect their confidential information.
The lack of security measures can be attributed to decentralised document governance, where no single function is accountable for this area. In many cases, it is being managed by several people across the business or responsibility is devolved either to department heads or individuals. Duplication and inefficiency are a result of this decentralised approach which also impacts productivity and sustainability.
Ian Winham, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Ricoh Europe said, "European businesses today face increasing risks associated with the growing regulatory requirements and pressure from customers, with increased digitisation, to demonstrate responsibility. The most effective way to manage the challenges and gain return on investment is to ensure that a businesses document assets are managed as an integral part of an organisation's overall information management and security strategy. Also by implementing a centralised and strategic document governance strategy that assigns clear responsibility and accountability for the document workflow, businesses will reduce the risk of confidential data getting into the wrong hands, and critically drive cost and process efficiencies across the whole business."
To download the whitepaper and learn more about the findings of the study visit http://www.ricoh-europe.com/research.
Note to Editors
About the Ricoh Document Governance Index
The Ricoh Document Strategy Index was conducted on behalf of Ricoh Europe by independent research firm Coleman Parkes Research and is based on 311 detailed interviews with senior decision makers (C-Suite or equivalents) of medium and large companies in the Financial Services; Professional Services; Public and Telecommunications / Utilities and Media sectors across Europe. Interviews took place in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom. All respondents are responsible for document management within their respective organisations and were contacted in July and August 2009. The survey was controlled to provide representative information across Europe and within each targeted vertical sector.
About Ricoh
Ricoh Company, Ltd ("Ricoh Company") is a global technology leader, specialising in the office and production printing markets. Ricoh works with organisations around the world to modernise work environments and optimise document efficiency. With over 108,500 employees worldwide, it operates in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, China and Japan.
Ricoh Europe Holdings Plc is a public limited company and the EMEA headquarters of Ricoh Company with operations located in London, United Kingdom and Amstelveen, the Netherlands. The EMEA operations comprise over 35 sales subsidiaries and affiliates.
In the fiscal year ended 31 March 2009, revenues from Ricoh's EMEA operations totalled over YEN 523.4 billion accounting for 25.0 per cent of Ricoh Company's global revenues. Ricoh Company's worldwide sales totalled over YEN 2,091.7 billion during the year ended 31 March 2009.
http://www.ricoh-europe.com
For further information, please contact:
Ricoh Europe PLC
Janice Gibson
Tel.: +44(0)20-7465-1153
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Home page: http://www.ricoh-europe.com
SOURCE Ricoh Europe
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