A guide for small and medium ANZ brokerages
For small and medium insurance brokerages in Australia and New Zealand, document management security is an Australian Financial Services Licence obligation.
Every client file, policy document and email thread you store contains sensitive financial and personal information. ASIC and APRA expect you to protect it and clients expect you to be trustworthy.
The right document management software for insurance brokers gives you the evidence to back your compliance processes, with security controls built in from the start. This guide covers the eight features that matter most when evaluating cloud document management software.
MFA requires users to verify their identity in two ways before accessing the system. Typically this means a password plus a code sent to their phone or generated by an authenticator app. It is one of the most effective security controls available and one of the Australian Cyber Security Centre's Essential Eight mitigation strategies.
Why it matters for brokers: With MFA in place, a stolen password alone cannot unlock client data. Your team gains a meaningful layer of protection against credential-based attacks.
What to look for: MFA enforced across all users by default, not just admin accounts. Confirm it covers your document management system and any integrations including email and policy management.
JAVLN Officetech enforces MFA across all users and integrates with Microsoft 365, so your Outlook access is covered by the same security controls as your document store.
MFA requires users to verify their identity in two ways before accessing the system. Typically this means a password plus a code sent to their phone or generated by an authenticator app. It is one of the most effective security controls available and one of the Australian Cyber Security Centre's Essential Eight mitigation strategies.
Why it matters for brokers: With MFA in place, a stolen password alone cannot unlock client data. Your team gains a meaningful layer of protection against credential-based attacks.
What to look for: MFA enforced across all users by default, not just admin accounts. Confirm it covers your document management system and any integrations including email and policy management.
JAVLN Officetech enforces MFA across all users and integrates with Microsoft 365, so your Outlook access is covered by the same security controls as your document store.
An audit trail is a time-stamped record of every action taken in your document system: who opened a file, who changed it, who deleted it and when. Uneditable means those records cannot be edited or deleted after the fact.
Why it matters for brokers: Regulators want evidence of compliant processes, not just your assurance that they exist. An immutable audit trail is proof you can present during an ASIC monitoring visit, a client dispute or an internal review, with no need to reconstruct events from memory.
What to look for: Automatic logging of all document actions, non-editable records, timestamps with user identification and the ability to export audit reports quickly.
JAVLN Officetech creates uneditable file notes and audit logs at the point of action. You can generate a complete audit trail report in minutes.
Encryption converts your data into unreadable code that can only be accessed with the right key. Documents should be encrypted while stored (at rest) and while moving between your browser and the server (in transit).
Why it matters for brokers: Encryption ensures your data remains unreadable even if someone gains access to the underlying storage, protecting client information at every layer of the system.
What to look for: AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.2 or higher in transit. Ask your vendor to confirm encryption standards in writing.
JAVLN Officetech uses enterprise-grade encryption for all stored data and data in transit, with regular penetration testing and security assessments to verify those controls hold.
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SOC 2 Type 2 is an independent security audit that verifies a software provider's security controls work consistently over time. Auditors test controls in practice over six to twelve months, not just review them on paper.
Why it matters for brokers: When you choose a software vendor, you extend trust in their security to your clients. SOC 2 Type 2 compliance means an independent auditor has verified that trust is warranted. It also supports your obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles and the New Zealand Privacy Act.
What to look for: Confirm the certification covers the specific product you are using, that the report is current and that the vendor will share it under NDA. Reputable vendors share their SOC 2 report readily. Willingness to do so is a mark of transparency.
JAVLN Officetech is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, independently audited. Read more on the JAVLN security hub.
Australian and New Zealand regulations require insurance brokers to retain client, policy, financial and advice records for seven years. Manual retention policies are difficult to enforce consistently across a team and leave room for human error.
Why it matters for brokers: Automated retention gives you confidence that every record is preserved for exactly as long as regulations require, consistently across your whole team regardless of turnover or process variation.
What to look for: Automated retention policies tied to document type, alerts before records are due for review and the ability to place legal holds on specific files.
JAVLN Officetech automatically applies seven-year retention aligned to ASIC and APRA requirements. Records are secured and retrievable for the full retention period without manual intervention.
Data sovereignty refers to where your data is physically stored and which country's laws apply to it. For insurance brokers in Australia and New Zealand, client data should be hosted in locally accredited data centres.
Why it matters for brokers: Local hosting gives you certainty that your client data sits within the jurisdiction of Australian and New Zealand privacy law, with no exposure to foreign government access requirements. It supports your obligations under the Australian Privacy Act and the New Zealand Privacy Act.
What to look for: Confirm data is hosted in Australian or New Zealand data centres. Asia Pacific region can mean Singapore or Japan, so ask specifically where your data sits.
JAVLN Officetech is hosted in locally accredited AU/NZ data centres, ensuring data sovereignty and supporting your compliance with local privacy legislation.
Backups protect your data if something unexpected happens, whether that is accidental deletion, a ransomware attack or an infrastructure failure. Backups only deliver on that promise if they can actually be restored, which is why tested disaster recovery matters.
Why it matters for brokers: Tested disaster recovery means your team stays operational during renewals and claims, with confidence that data can be restored quickly and completely when it counts.
What to look for: Automated daily backups, offsite or redundant storage, documented recovery time objectives (RTO) and confirmation that test restores are performed regularly.
JAVLN Officetech maintains automated daily backups aligned to AU/NZ requirements and performs regular recovery tests, so you can count on access to client data when it matters most.
Many brokerages start with general-purpose tools like Microsoft SharePoint or consider options like M-Files, DocuWare, Virtual Cabinet or Laserfiche. These tools handle documents, but they are not built for the specific compliance obligations of insurance brokers in ANZ.
The key differences with a purpose-built solution like JAVLN Officetech:
Purpose-built tools give you compliance confidence from day one, without the overhead of customisation, configuration and ongoing maintenance.
The broker's guide to evaluating
software security - a ten-point checklist for choosing secure broker software
Discover all of JAVLN Officetech
compliance and security features,
including SOC 2 Type 2 compliance
Book a 15-minute discovery call with our team to see how JAVLN Officetech supports your security controls
JAVLN is cloud-based software built for insurance brokers, agencies and underwriters. JAVLN Platform is a policy management platform and JAVLN Officetech is document management software. Both products have built-in compliance tools.
JAVLN products are used by thousands of insurance brokers across Australia and New Zealand, ranging from small independent brokerages to large multi-branch operations.
Yes. JAVLN scales from small independent brokerages through to large multi-branch groups.
JAVLN has offices in Auckland, New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia, and supports brokers across global markets.
JAVLN is SOC 2 Type 2 certified, with multi-factor authentication and encryption across both products.
