Storing records has become one of the most important parts for every other business. Records be it of the clients’ or the company’s hold immense importance. The information stored in the records is highly valuable and ought to be protected. There are different ways in which records are stored.
One of the old and yet common ways is storing records in a facility. This facility can be on the office premises or somewhere else. With increased dependence on technology, a lot of companies have now shifted to cloud-based records management systems as they offer numerous advantages over physical storage.
In this article, we will discuss a few of the disadvantages of storing records in a physical facility to help you understand if you want to continue with it or not.
So let’s get started:
It’s generally expensive
Since it is a physical facility that we are talking about, it requires a lot of things. For starters, you need a proper place for it. The space has to be roomy enough to contain all the documents. Keeping in mind that there will be more documents in the future, one has to get a facility big enough for storing records. The space will be costly. Physical spaces also require proper maintenance. You can’t just dump records there are forget about them. The records need to be managed properly. Cleaning, electricity, and proper security are some of the other expenses that you will have to bear if you are to go for storing records physically.
It’s risky
The risk is inevitable. Physical records keeping is always at risk of natural calamities. Accidental fires, water leakage, short circuit, you name it. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in a physical facility. In case a fire breaks out, it will eat away all the paper and other files. Saving such records from things as disastrous as fire and water is practically impossible. Moreover, if your physical facility has computer systems or digital record storage units within it, there is also a risk of faulty voltage or short circuit which can again start fires or harm the documents with high power. Although physical storage facilities for storing records are prepared for all such incidents, a minor slip or deliberate effort by your competitor can destroy heaps of data within minutes.
Requires tight security
If your records are stored within the office premises, care should be taken as to not allow its access to a lot of employees. When a lot of people are granted access to the facility, the chances of the information reaching the wrong hands increase. Further, whether the records are stored on or off the premises, security ought to be very tight. Using average locks with CCTV cameras would not suffice. Highly secure systems are required. One can expect a lot of security breaches for the physical facilities as they are usually easy to break into. In order to keep your information safe, you need to invest in a good security system. That will again come at a cost.
Misfiling of the documents
One of the most common disadvantages of storing in a physical facility is the misfiling of documents. When you start storing documents in a physical facility there are always chances of documents getting misfiled. The misfiling of the documents can be havoc when the document that is required on an urgent basis gets misplaced. This can lead to wasting a lot of time. Moreover, at times the documents that get misplaced become so hard to find. You can expect these misfiled documents to be lost forever unless you are willing to look through the heaps of records. And again, when you do look through the entire facility, there are chances of losing or misplacing more files. This is especially inconvenient for companies that deal with a lot of data.
Summing up
To put it simply, the disadvantages of storing records in a physical facility outweigh its benefits. Go for digital records management to save yourself from the ordeal of inconvenience and expenses that come with it.
To know more about how your company stores and manages records, get in touch with us today!
