If you’re confused about how to best store and manage your documents, you’re not alone. There is a plethora of document storage myths. In this blog post, we share the most popular myths and help you discover the truth about document storage.
Myth 1: Off-Site Document Storage Hinders Productivity
When digging through boxes and filing cabinets to find your documents, you may not realise what a drain it is on your time and energy. Every minute spent searching for misfiled documents negatively impacts your productivity.
An offsite storage solution keeps your documents accessible through an online portal that lets you order your records anytime. When requested, your files are either hand-delivered to your firm or sent electronically with a Scan on Demand solution.
Myth 2: Business Documents Should Be Stored In an Office
This myth perpetuates the belief that business documents are safer when stored on-site in your office. In reality, business documents stored on-site are more vulnerable to disaster and theft than those stored in a purpose-built record centre. That’s why identity theft and disaster recovery experts recommend storing business records off-site.
A record centre protects your documents from fire, flood, natural disasters, and unauthorised access. It features:
- 24-hour internal staffing
- entry access controls
- monitored security systems
- fire detection and suppression technology
- secure loading and unloading areas
Your records are managed by background-screened records management professionals, and access to your documents is restricted to authorised individuals in your organisation.
Myth 3: I Should Store Documents Permanently
While it’s true that client contracts, shareholder records, and tax documents should be stored permanently, it’s important to have a final disposition date for other, “non-vital” business records. Keeping documents longer than necessary increases your risk of identity theft, business fraud and legal liability.
Use a professional shredding service to destroy documents when they expire. Your documents are transported from your office to a shredding plant for secure shredding. After shredding, you receive a Certificate of Destruction for audit purposes and to prove your legal compliance.
Myth 4: Off-Site Document Storage Is Too Hard
Without a doubt, lugging boxes of documents to a self storage facility is time-consuming, back-breaking work. Professional document storage is easy. The entire off-site record storage process is handled by a professional record management team. They come to your office and transfer your documents to the record centre for storage. Each carton receives a barcode that’s entered into a tracking database. You receive a secure document storage solution without having to lift a finger!
As you can see from these debunked myths, document storage done well offers a host of benefits for your business.
Archive Document Data Storage (ADDS) provides off-site record storage services for businesses throughout London, Bristol, Bath, and Swindon. For more information, please contact us by phone or complete the form on this page.