Documents are a part of almost any type of business – from receipts to customer correspondence to personnel files. Storing these documents can be troublesome, especially older stuff that is required for tax reasons but not actively used. That’s where off-site document storage services could be crucial.
What are secure document storage services?
Document storage services are about providing safe and secure off-site storage for all of the business documents. Companies offer different levels of storage including locally based warehouses and deep storage for documents that may never be needed or only need many years in the future.
The various security measure is put in place to ensure no unauthorised access while clear storage systems mean that if your business finds it needs to access something in the storage this is easy to do. The company can quickly find the relevant documents and get them to you.
Benefits of using document storage services
But why would your business consider using such services? Why not simply store everything in filing cabinets on the business premises? Here are some benefits to consider.
Make space in the property
When you first start in business, there aren’t too many documents to store and a discreet filing cabinet can seem like an ideal solution. But within no time, you start to accumulate more and more paperwork and the storage requirements can take over the property. Therefore by storing documents off-site, you can save that space and use it for something more relevant.
As an update to this article, when Covid-19 hit the world, this global pandemic meant that many businesses small and large were offering for their employees to work from home. Office space became unnecessary and businesses started to downsize their office space and instead began looking to secure meeting spaces as and when required. This meant that storage was a huge consideration. All the documents that were in cupboards, cabinets, and drawers had to be put somewhere, and somewhere that people could gain instant access to from a remote location.
More security storage
By working with a specialist document storage company, you don’t have to worry about the security of the documents. For example, you have data protection requirements with anything that contains personal information for both clients and employees. This means storing these documents needs to be done carefully to avoid a data breach.
Efficiency in finding documents
When you store documents in the office, no matter how efficient your staff things often get a little out of control. Everyone’s busy and the documents just get popped into the first open space. Then when the time comes to produce them for something, you can’t find them. Using an off-site company means you also get their organisational system and never need to worry about efficiently finding your documents in the future.
Keep up with regulatory requirements
How long you hold data is something that falls under the new GDPR rules about data protection. On the other side, you need to keep things a certain period for tax purposes, usually 7 years. This means that knowing when to hold and when to destroy documents can be a little complicated. Having an easy to work with off-site document storage system in place means you don’t need to worry about this and can easily access documents to destroy them in a timely manner.
Better protection
Security is one thing, but enhanced protection is another. This is more about physically protecting the documents with things like state-of-the-art fire detection and suppression technology. Multi-layered security systems protect the inside and outside of the storage facility in a way that is far more comprehensive than the average business needs. And features such as anonymised storage means if someone did get into the facility, it would be difficult and time consuming for them to find specific documents.
Easy document storage option
There’s no doubt that document storage services that take documents off-site are the easy option when it comes to handling your business paperwork. Secure and protected, these facilities make it easy to access paperwork without the need for it taking up space in the business premises that could be put to better use.
For more information about off-site document storage services, get in touch with us today!
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