T
ake your financial statements, be they bank statements, utility bills, salary
slips, even if you are strict with your filing and you have created folders for
each and every type of mail and your mailbox is clean, tidy and structured,
you can still spend a long time looking for something specific. Now
consider the matter of back-ups. In your business life, you possibly have a server
and automatic back-ups. Everything you do, every e-mail you receive is saved and
stored. Granted, you may not know how to retrieve everything, but the IT person
or department will be able to assist you in the case of a catastrophic failure. But,
what happens to your data and all your statements if your personal computer or
laptop should fail or worse be stolen? You lose everything!
Backing-up is a habit that we should all get into but it is also something that we
generally put off and put off until it is just too late. When it finally happens that
all your e-mail information is lost, how do you recover? Vast volumes of personal
information are lost forever and can never be retrieved.
We all know that there is the ability to store back-ups in the cloud but this
generally refers to files, items such as letters or documents, movies and pictures.
E-mails and their attachments are not generally stored unless you have archived
them. Of all the e-mails we receive, whether as individuals or companies, the
financial ones are the most critical. They are the ones which are most likely to
need our attention and are also the ones which need to be stored for future use.
How do you go about storing these and being able to determine which are which?
ACTNET, a company which specialises in the handling of electronic documents,
specifically those which are sent by e-mail, has a simple solution. Not only does
ACTNET generate these documents, including all of the security elements, and
the e-mailing on behalf of some large corporations including some of the major
banks, but it also has tracking and management solutions. One of its main
services is Electronic Document Delivery (EDD). This is the service it offers to
large corporations for the handling, storage, management and distribution of
customer accounts and statements. Its clients include utility companies, one
of the four major banks and various retail organisations.
There is another aspect to EDD but one which should appeal to you
personally. EDDBox is, to all intents and purposes, a free, end-user mail
management system. It is not specifically a mailbox, although it is used
and managed along the lines of a mailbox. It is, however, more intelligent.
Not only can you – as the user – create a series of rules, the system can
also automatically and intelligently sort incoming mail according to the
information stored in the name of the mail message.
EDDBox automatically extracts the attachment from the e-mail and stores it
according to the rules established by the user or according to information within
the e-mail message. It then disposes of the covering e-mail thereby reducing the
overall size of the data file which is stored. EDDBox is not designed to do away
with your existing e-mail inbox; it is rather there to supplement it, as it will be
used primarily for financial documentation.
EDDBox is essentially a cloud-based storage system allowing you to access
your information at any time from any device, both mobile and static. It can be
accessed from static PCs as well as smartphones, tablets and even via smart TVs.
The security protocols put in place by ACTNET mean that the information stored
on EDDBox is completely secure. In addition, for the more sensitive information,
users of EDDBox can encrypt their documents. However, selecting this option
means that should you forget your password, those documents can never
be unlocked.
EDDBox has a rather interesting feature – the FICA Button. How often are you
required to provide FICA information with the result that you have to find and print
three bank statements, proof of residence and a certified copy of your ID. The
FICA button on EDDBox allows you to set up a single point of reference where all
these essential documents can be stored and by touching the FICA button, you
can send all the information to the recipient of your choice.
So, how do you gain access to all this functionality and free cloud-based storage
for your sensitive financial information? It is quite simple – go to the website
and click on Create Account. Complete the short and simple
registration form, include the reference code NEXMED and you are set to go. If
you have any questions which you need answering before you realise what a
good idea it is, then contact ACTNET via e-mail on
Once you have created your account, give your new EDDBox address to all the
organisations you receive electronic statements from and start creating your
folders. Then watch your statements file themselves permanently and for free.
For more information on EDDBox contact Actnet on
011 267 6444
or via e-mail
Nex Media •
Vol 3 Issue 2
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