Easy file archiving to support compliance in regulated industries

Keep and archive old files without cluttering up your folders  

Reduce clutter and improve regulatory compliance with file archiving

It's important for any business to keep detailed records of past decisions and transactions. For some regulated industries, such as finance, it's even a requirement. However, if not properly managed, the same detailed records that are so important to your history and compliance can become clutter. It's a difficult situation: how do you archive your files in a way that they're still accessible, yet out of the way of more pressing work?

In the age of paper, these sorts of files gathered dust in obscure filing cabinets, which is less than ideal. Paper records are vulnerable to damage and decay, expensive to store and maintain, and cumbersome to search and sort. With digital records having replaced paper as the new standard, new problems have arisen. How do you reliably separate old records from currently used documents, without deleting them altogether?

The solution is the file archiving feature from ShareFile. Rather than delete a file you don't need anymore, your business can archive it to remove it from the folders you use on a regular basis. You can still access your archived files when you need them, but they're out of the way, helping you support compliance for relevant regulations while keeping your workflows streamlined and efficient.

File Archiving helps you find what you need, when you need it

Sometimes we make mistakes. At the end of a long day at work, it's easy to accidentally open a file named "Earnings Report Q1" instead of "Earnings Report Q2", which can lead to even more costly errors before you catch on. Long filenames often get easy to confuse, and the folders you use for work end up getting full and cluttered. File archiving from ShareFile is an easy way to remove old files without deleting them so you can reduce mistakes and distractions. Archived files can still be searched, but are searched separately from your non-archived files, so you don't have to mix them up.

Supporting compliance with FINRA and SEC regulations can be a whole lot easier

For some industries, such as finance, regulations require that your firm refrain from deleting any relevant document for a period of time. To help with compliance such as FINRA, SEC rule 17a-4, Section 204 of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, and SEC Rule 204-2, ShareFile Archiving for Financial Services lets you automatically turn on file archiving for your entire account, so every document in your account is automatically archived instead of deleted for at least three years. This crucial feature makes it easy for financial firms and other regulated businesses to store their files in ShareFile and remain confident that they meet regulatory standards.

You get a backup plan in case you accidentally delete something important

Since you can enable ShareFile archiving for your entire account, it's an easy way to guard against someone in your organization deleting an important file, even if you might not notice it for a while. ShareFile includes other ways to recover deleted files, but since archived files stay in your account for at least three years, the file archiver acts as a nice catch-all backup plan for accidents that otherwise might have fallen through the cracks.

Easy archiving is just one of the many built-for-business features that ShareFile offers. You can also securely transfer files, collect electronic signatures on important documents, encrypt email messages and attachments, and sync files to the cloud to make them accessible from any device. Try it free today and see why thousands of businesses choose ShareFile.

Further reading:

• ShareFile Blog: New feature helps financial firms comply with data archiving regulations
  
• ShareFile Knowledge Base: How to setup ShareFile Archiving

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