Have you Rented an Apartment to store business Records? “Yes - We have rented an apartment to store our records” - This has been the statement made by many of the business houses during my 25 years of interaction with them on offsite records management services and this is mainly due to cost constraints. What if I tell you there is a much simpler & cost economical solution to this? Solution to Records Management As I realise most of them are unaware of a service - Outsourcing the records management activity to dedicated information management professionals - for managing their records. The option of renting an apartment and filling them with the old records defeats the 3 basic foundational aspects of records management principles – Safety, Security and Cost. Let’s further understand why? Protecting records from Pest Infestation Any professionally managed Records Management warehouse will have Safety – against pest, dust, theft, loss, and misplacement. The warehouses are pest controlled frequently and on a regular basis to keep the records free from bugs, pests, and rodents – Termites, sliver fish, Book lice, ants, spiders, cockroaches, and rats are the most common in any records storage environment. 24/7 Surveillance and Tracking These warehouses more commonly known as “Facility” in the Records Management Industry also ensures Security to the stored records against Fire, Flood, theft arson and unauthorised access. 24x7 monitored by CCTV and Physical Security, Motion detectors, Intruder Alarms, Fire detection and suppression systems. Access cards are always an integral part of any Records Management Facility. Operating lean and profitably The financial implication in implementing the basic safety and security features alone – not considering the professional expertise – may not be worth the value in return on investment on a rented place. The storage area available would be 30-40% less than the quoted space with exclusions, share on staircase, washrooms, kitchen, sit out etc. Rent or the opportunity cost in case of an owned apartment, Security deposit, Maintenance charges, basic infrastructure – Racks, cartons, labels etc. will be an additional investment. Convenience Vs Compliance The idea of storing critical business records at a rented apartment may be convenient. But how far it helps in meeting compliance should be evaluated. Records are not only stored but maintained for their integrity, safety from misusage, tracked for access trails and protected from fire, water, climatic conditions for multiple years. Swift retrieval of historic records requires systematic indexing with barcode / QR Codes / RFIDs, Standard operating procedures SOPs for all business processes, so that your business is compliant with multiple regulatory bodies. Talk to KAYMAN for a Cost-effective, Secure, pest-free, professional alternative solution for Records Management. We offer full-cycle records and information lifecycle solutions from physical records storage, file indexing, digitization to records shredding. Get a Quote today.