Is off-site document storage part of your disaster recovery plan?

For lots of businesses, storing archives of paper records can be a pain.  There are many different legal reasons that documents might need to be kept, and some industries are very particular about how long the information is stored for.

Many businesses tend to keep their paper records on site, locked away in a room or cupboard.  But what if they outgrow their current storage space?  What if the unthinkable happens and the building is damaged or destroyed by fire or flood?

Off-Site Document Storage can take alot of weight of your mind.  By utilising an off-site document storage service provider you can rest assured that your documents are being kept in safe, secure conditions and whats more you can access the information at any time you want.

But isnt it expensive?  Not at all.  By carefully selecting your document storage provider you could actually save yourself alot of money.  For example, by relocating your documents off-site, from an office in central London you might actually find that the rent for the room you have been using costs much, much more than the cost of the service provider.  Sometimes its easy to overlook simple cost savings like this.

More importantly though, the preservation and safety of your documents is paramount.  If your documents might be required for auditing purposes it is vitally important that they are kept safe and as far away from risk as possible.

Off Site Document Storage providers have technology in place to ensure that the building is protected from / quickly alert to fire damage, smoke damage and flooding.  The climate of the storage facility is kept at an optimal level to ensure that the documents to not suffer the effects of premature ageing, and should you need to access your documents then that is no problem at all.   Some document storage service providers even provide access to your documents via a web site (to do this they will need to have a scanning facility that scans your documents into a computer system)

So in summary, if you think that off-site document storage is expensive then I strongly advise you to think again.  Not only could it work out cheaper than storing your documents in your office, it can also form an efficient and reliable part of your disaster recovery plans.

Saving money, whilst choosing the right Document Storage Company

For businesses that accumulate masses of paper records (yes, even in this digital age it still happens), the storage of these archives can present a bit of a headache.  Many different types of historic documentation need to be kept for a certain period of time, and this can lead to archive boxes taking up valuable office space.  If your office space costs you a premium then you might find that you are paying a considerable amount of money just to store your boxes.

An answer to try and help reduce your costs might be to consider an off-site document storage facility.

These purpose built document storage facilities ensure safe storage of your archives with high security buildings that are designed to care for your documents.

Naturally, the first impression of off-site storage is that it is going to cost the earth.  However this is not true.  If you have had a shop around you will see that there are many different types of storage businesses out there all of whom will want you as a client.  They will try to entice you in with special deals to get your business.  

Even if you currently use off-site document storage, have you considered that you might be able to get a much better deal if you switch to another provider.  Some companies might even offer to pay off your current contract, just to get your business, and even be able to reduce your document storage costs in the long term aswell.

Document retrieval is also an important factor when it comes to choosing the right service provider.  As the owner of the documents you need to be able to ensure that they are accessible at all times with the minimum of fuss.  Keep an eye out for small print that may cost you in premiums if you need immediate access to your information!

Another concern for businesses is that their documents are out of site, are they secure?  By researching a number of companies you should be able to tell what security guarantees the company provides - not just for the safety of your documents in terms of theft, but also the risks against fire and flood damage.  A credible document storage facility will have systems in place that can detect fire or flood risk at a very early stage and eliminate the problem.

Of course, one of the most important factors in any decision is going to be the cost of the service, but you should also carefully consider that the cheapest price might also provide the lowest quality service or come with extra hidden service charges.