IBM has calculated that 90% of the world’s data was created in the last two years alone. While much of this data is digital, staggering volumes are paper-based and those volumes are increasing all the time. This makes on-site records management an ever-growing challenge, and one that many companies are struggling to meet.
On the other hand, organisations that hand over their information management to a third-party specialist eliminate lost productivity, streamline their operations and avoid severe penalties for noncompliance. According to this company that provides records management services to companies in New Zealand and Australia, these are just a few advantages of third party information management. When you see the full list of benefits, you’ll wonder why you still attempt to look after your own records.
- Legal compliance. The systems used by records management specialists allow organisations to fully comply with the law. Document conservation is a complex issue, as legal retention periods vary according to the type of document. Through superior information tracking and control software, record management specialists virtually eliminate the number of cases of (expensive) non-compliance.
- Better security and business continuity. Specialist documentation management improves data protection and security, and significantly reduces the risk of data leakage or theft. The storage and management services offered by information management specialists allow for full tracking of a document’s movement, from the moment it is checked out of storage to the moment it returns.
- Optimised organisation and access. As is the case with global data, the volume of documents companies have to manage grows every single day. This severely hampers a team’s productivity and keeps them from the daily tasks you employed them to do in the first place. When document management is entrusted to a company that specialises in that particular field, they can take over everything, including document filing and cataloguing.. This streamlines the operations of your organisation and liberates your team, allowing them to do what they’re good at.
- Time and money are saved. If time is money, then a third-party records management company will save you plenty of both. When your document management is optimised, the more efficient procedures will allow your employees to locate a document quickly, file it properly, and interact with it easily.
- Saves space. How much of your valuable commercial real estate is taken up by business-generated documents, files and storage boxes? With an ever-increasing number of documents to be retained, and the cost of storage per square metre at an all-time high, doesn’t it make sense to use an off-site records storage specialist? Particularly one who can digitise your documents, surely the ultimate space saver?
- Improved customer service. This means more than being able to quickly retrieve a document required by one of your customers. Companies specialising in records management can better protect sensitive information, which gives your clients the degree of privacy they expect and are entitled to.
Any organisation that manages its own business information is in charge of a process that presents a number of challenges. As the amount of data snowballs, those challenges will only intensify, possibly to the point of becoming insurmountable. When this is taken into consideration, it makes the services provided by a third party information management specialist not just desirable, but almost essential.
