As a business person, you understand the importance of efficiency. And you’re probably always looking for ways to improve your own business systems so you can work smarter, faster and better to save time and money.

Allstate feels the same way. Every day, our experienced Team Members apply their knowledge, passion and creativity to assess, improve and streamline our business processes so that we can be as efficient and effective as possible when helping you.

Here are a few examples of the ways by which we optimize our daily operations and global solutions:

• Client evaluations. We are consistently trying to increase our service to clients by analyzing our processes for efficiencies
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). At Allstate, we believe consistency drives accuracy, and accuracy drives reliability. To maintain consistency throughout our network, we adhere to global Standard Operating Procedures. The result is that you can rely on us to deliver the same, consistent quality service in every location, with every solution we provide.

DMS: Document management strategies. Allstate delivers an added layer of document management efficiency. In fact, Allstate leads the industry in conducting faster, more accurate, and comprehensive audits that help our customers manage their inventory.

At the core of every solution we offer, is the promise of premium security.

• To ensure the protection of your sensitive and critical business items, Allstate follows stringent facility and vehicle standards, operational protocol, and team training procedures.
• We continuously conduct security assessments, audits, and benchmarking activities in search of new and innovative ways to further enhance security. Our expert Security professionals periodically review our Global Security Standards to utilize recent advancements in science, technology, systems, and operations.
• We have external parties – including our clients, industry experts, and legislative agencies – test, validate, and scrutinize our security measures from an objective point of view.
• We invest heavily in fire safety, Very Early Smoke Detection (VESDA), and fire prevention as well as disaster protection and security measures that surpass local and national regulations.

With a strong focus on risk mitigation, security breach protocol, and best practices, Allstate ensures that in the event of a disaster, your business will be able to continue operations, recover assets, and minimize liability.

Records Retention programs should contain two important documents: The Retention Policy and the Retention Schedule. The Retention Policy will determine who or which position in the company is responsible for the Retention Schedule, Here are the 6 steps to creating a retention schedule.

1. Obtain Senior Management support. Whether an email to department heads or a written document, the task of building a retention schedule will involve working with all department heads and gaining their time, advice and approval. Senior management backing will be essential.
2. Catalogue on-site records. Before building the schedule, you need to know what records your company has. Every department will store their most recently created records on-site in filing cabinets. Catalogue all records in the offices, grouping them into categories.
3. Organize the category list into a Records Series. Once you know all the types of records in the offices, group these categories into a logical order and codify them. for example Administration / Finance / Company Statements, or Operations / Health and Safety / OHS Audit Inspection reports. Because names are lengthy, codify these titles numerically.For example 01-03-004 might mean Administration (01),Finance (03), Company Statements (004). These are your Records Series Codes.
4. Determine the legal retention periods. With the full list of retention codes and descriptions, you need to research how long each Records Series must be maintained. This will be done by searching local, state and national regulations, and each might be different. A Records Series must be kept as a minimum for the longest period of any relevant laws. Note down the pertinent laws alongside each record series. Laws change and knowing where to check them will make the job of maintaining the Retention Schedule easy.
5. Discuss with Department Heads. Once this is researched, discuss the records series and legal requirements with the department managers responsible. There are often valid operational, archival, historical and other reasons for keeping records longer than is legally required.Also discuss the on-site / off- site periods, or how long each department really needs to keep their records in-house before being sent to cheaper offsite storage.
6. Submit and obtain final signoff from senior management.


Allstate Information Management Offers a timely reminder  of the importance of having the right partner for Information Destruction Services in Support of National Data Privacy Day—January 28, 2012

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that each year, as many as 9 million individuals fall victim to identity theft. Individuals and organizations can better protect them- selves by properly destroying documents that contain private information before they are disposed.

Individuals from surrounding communities are encouraged to bring their paper records and documents that are no longer needed to the nearest Allstate location for secure de- struction on or before National Data Privacy Day. Examples of the types of documents that individuals need to properly destroy before disposal include: bank statements, credit card statements, utility bills, cancelled checks, pre-approved credit card forms and any other documentation that contains personal data. Documents submitted for destruction will be securely shredded by Allstate and all of the resulting materials will be recycled.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, the only way to have true security and peace of mind is to make sure that your valuable private information is either securely saved or destroyed to prevent identity fraud.

Allstate is a member of the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID).

The cost of digitizing paper records can be substantial. According to one study by the City of New York records management department, imaging conversion projects for archival paper records took 16 years to break even in the most optimistic scenario and in the most pessimistic scenario would not ever break even. This kind of financial investment must, therefore, be carefully considered prior to launching a project that may have very low or nonexistent return on investment to the organization.

What about preservation as a justification? Many manufacturers cannot produce sufficient test data to establish high confidence in any digital preservation medium for permanent records retention. Media types are simply too unstable at this time, or there has not been sufficient time to do thorough testing. In the example used above, the National Archives and Records administration to facilitate both preservation and expanded access. Because they are a national archive, NARA’s preservation timelines are either very long or permanent. This puts them in a different cate- gory than most organizations that are preserving records for a more limited period. In cases where records may be damaged (by mold, vinegar syndrome in x-rays, etc.) digitizing to facilitate preservation would be a very good strategy.

Equally good would be selective digitization of vital records as a part of a program of protection through redundancy. In this scenario the original records would be retained but a digital copy would also be created and stored at a different location, such as in a media vault maintained by your information management vendor. This places a copy of the material outside the hands of potential saboteurs. A similar strategy has been employed by some archives using a method known as hybrid capture. In this type of approach information was captured as both a digital file for work use and also as a film image for permanent retention. Some of the most important drivers of digital conversion today are to facilitate frequent retrieval of archival information, improve workflow in the organization, or facilitate distributed sharing of documents across the enterprise.

Let Allstate help you create a Records Management plan today.

It’s no secret that HIPAA compliance enforcement has always been soft. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has pretty much allowed covered entities to be self-policing, reporting breaches voluntarily. But that’s about to change in a major way, with major consequences for your organization.

9,100 red flags

Last year the OCR expected to receive from healthcare entities around 100 voluntary reports of healthcare information breaches involving more than 500 individuals. But when more than 9,100 reports came in covering just 2010, it was time for pro-active enforcement.

9.2 million reasons why you should care

The OCR has granted KPMG a $9.2 million contract to conduct audits of selected covered entities for compliance with the HIPAA legislation before December 31, 2012 This huge budget should tell you that these will be in-depth audits.

But what isn’t known is which entities will be audited and how deep within the group will the audits dig. Policies, practices and employee training will be under the microscope, as well as patient records, HR files, vendor contracts and employment applications related to the audited entities. In other words, these audits may affect organizations like yours.

What should you do?

It’s now more likely than ever that non-compliance in your organization will be caught and penalized with hefty fines, corrective action plans, media notification and ongoing monitoring. That means it’s time to review and test your policies and practices—honestly and objectively—to assess how well they meet the requirements of the applicable privacy laws. If they fall short, bring them into compliance immediately—and be able to prove it to auditors.

See the opportunity to improve.

There is a silver lining. The desire to preserve the status quo is one of the most powerful forces known to man, but sometimes forced change can drive great improvement. Depending on your current information management protocols, you may be able to save time and money—and above all, mitigate your risk exposure. Contact Allstate today.

For many people old habits diehard. Continuing a practice often doesn’t even get evaluated regardless of its cost or effectiveness, the old way is comfortable and easy. This holds true not just for people, but any type of organization that is in the habit of doing things a certain way, even if that way is no longer serving your best interests.

How organizations store records is a prime example. Some companies and firms still house and manage all their physical information, often for no other reason than that’s the way they’ve always done it. But All-State offers an alternative that is not only more secure, but less expensive.

Allstate provides comprehensive, end-to-end records and information management solutions that go far beyond records storage to include digital/electronic document content management, data protection, certified destruction and consultative Retention and Compliance expertise.

But for many of Allstate’s clients, their first exposure and interaction with the company comes with a decision to store their records offsite. There are a number of reasons why. Offsite storage is a much more reliable way to protect your records. It’s also easy and convenient. Enlisting a company like Allstate, to work with you in partnership, can save considerable time and money.

Allstate Information Management Offers a timely reminder of the importance of having the right partner for Information Destruction Services in Support of National Data Privacy Day—January 28, 2012

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that each year, as many as 9 million individuals fall victim to identity theft. Individuals and organizations can better protect them- selves by properly destroying documents that contain private information before they are disposed.

Individuals from surrounding communities are encouraged to bring their paper records and documents that are no longer needed to the nearest Allstate location for secure destruction on or before National Data Privacy Day. Examples of the types of documents that individuals need to properly destroy before disposal include: bank statements, credit card statements, utility bills, cancelled checks, pre-approved credit card forms and any other documentation that contains personal data. Documents submitted for destruction will be securely shredded by Allstate and all of the resulting materials will be recycled.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, the only way to have true security and peace of mind is to make sure that your valuable private information is either securely saved or destroyed to prevent identity fraud.

Allstate is a member of the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID).