Regardless of your company or industry, managing and storing documents is necessary for any business owner. It’s also a tremendous responsibility to keep important paperwork intact, organized and secure for future use.
New ventures or small businesses may operate without a formal document storage plan. However, this is not sustainable. Paper files accumulate quickly, requiring the need for more expensive storage room. Missing or misfiled documents also hinder businesses with rising labour costs as employees waste time searching for critical information. Most importantly, document management is essential to any business plan to remain compliant with privacy laws pertaining to the administration and accessibility of data.
There is a lot on the line, which is why proper document management should always be top-of-mind for businesses.
The best way to store important documents is not in a filing cabinet but with a professional off-site storage service.
By removing sensitive information from your workplace and into secured storage, your business will realize several benefits:
Confidential business records, whether tax documents, invoices and receipts, financial documentation or client/patient information, contain highly sensitive information that should never fall into the wrong hands. By storing these files off-site, only authorized employees can retrieve this information, eliminating any internal security risks.
Storing documents within the workplace or a self-storage unit increases your company’s chance of damage from water, fire, pests and other natural disasters. Record warehousing facilities have proper measures to guard against these catastrophes. Additionally, off-site storage ensures easy access to critical documents if your physical location experiences an unexpected disaster.
Storing documents on-site uses expensive office real estate that your organization could otherwise use for revenue-generating activities. Your business must also invest in supplies to organize paperwork, such as filing cabinets, file boxes and racks. As new documents are acquired, storage requirements and costs will continue to increase. Off-site document storage eliminates this problem and allows your firm to focus and scale operations without finding or funding the cost of additional square footage.
How Are Important Documents Protected With Off-Site Storage?
Unlike a self-storage unit or a corner in your workplace, off-site storage facilities are designed to protect, preserve and organize files throughout retention periods. When working with a professional service, your files will remain safe and secure with:
Environmental Protections
Off-site document management companies are water-, pest-and fire-proof to protect against natural disasters and prevent damage or loss of files while in storage. On the other hand, workplace storerooms do not guarantee the same protection.
Climate Controlled Storage Units
Business files require special climate controls to maintain document integrity. A professional document storage company will have a dedicated HVAC system and dehumidifier to maintain proper temperature and humidity levels and backup auxiliary power in case of an outage. However, climate-controlled storerooms are not a common feature in most office spaces.
Strict Security Measures
Off-site document management businesses store files in highly secured facilities with stringent security protocols to protect information from breaches and theft. For example, many offer 24/7 video surveillance and monitoring to keep stored documents safe all the time. Unfortunately, this type of security is often lacking in office environments.
Controlled Access
Only authorized personnel can handle confidential files kept in an off-site document management facility. These employees also receive regular training to uphold important document protection regulations and keep sensitive data out of the wrong hands. However, when documents are kept in the workplace, the risk of a breach increases.
How To Access Business Documents Stored Off-Site?
Off-site document warehousing is an ideal solution for paper documents, but also tapes, other media and digital files. Physical and digital documents are indexed and managed using a barcode system to ensure efficient retrieval of information with an online records management system.
Authorized employees can access this database to centrally manage and control assets kept in the off-site facility. When information is required, there are several ways to retrieve business files:
Physical Retrieval
Physical retrieval allows authorized employees to request documents using an online records management system and have original copies delivered to their workplace.
Electronic Retrieval
Electronic retrieval is faster than having files delivered, especially when the provider offers
scan-on-demand services. Employees can request business documents to be scanned and have the digital files emailed to them within hours, no matter their location.
When choosing an off-site document management company, it’s beneficial to work with a provider that offers a diverse range of scanning solutions, whether you are interested in full or partial digitization of important files. This can help your business accelerate to a more digital workplace where documents are stored digitally using cloud storage.
Choose Blue-Pencil To Store Your Important Documents
At Blue-Pencil, we provide long-term storage for sensitive files so you can concentrate on your business knowing that your information is in a safe, climate-controlled and compliant facility with highly-trained professionals for a complete chain of custody.
We pair this peace of mind with efficient and easy access to off-site documents with an online account that allows authorized users to check in on your inventory, create file reports and so much more. When you need paper copies in storage, our team can deliver file boxes or folders to your workplace, or documents can be scanned and sent electronically within hours.
With pricing as low as a few dollars per box each year, our off-site document storage system helps law offices, healthcare clinics, insurance companies, financial firms and more to save money, office space and hassle by storing and keeping track of files for you.
Take the first step by getting in
contact with Blue-Pencil for a
free quote. Our team will review our secure storage process and scanning solutions with you to make the best decision for your company.