Whether it be moving to a new building, adding more locations or taking over another practice, all transitions can feel pretty daunting. From moving high-value equipment and machinery, to relocating teams of employees, there is nothing simple or easy about these transitions. Even more daunting are the thoughts on how you’re going to move all of the key documents your business heavily relies on, either because you need them to complete daily tasks or because you are legally required to hold on to them. It’s important to have a plan in place to safely and securely relocate your documents.
When it comes time to physically move documents, it usually gets done in two ways. One, you lock up all the file cabinet drawers and try to move them filled. Not only is this extremely heavy and difficult, but your files could get jostled in transit and you could potentially lose documents. According to the 2018 Cost of Data Breach Study by Ponemon, the average cost of a lost record was $148, and is most likely even costlier in 2021.
The second way is through purchasing bankers boxes, loading up all of your loose documents and then sorting and reorganizing them once you’re settled in the new location. This leads to unnecessary costs and takes too much time to complete. The more records you have to move and the more space you need to store, the more your costs increase. Not to mention, where are you going to store all of these boxes and filing cabinets once you transition? Will they be safe during the transition in a legal sense, or is there potential for privacy issues?
Instead of worrying about all of these intimidating questions, the easiest, fastest and most cost-effective way to “move” your documents, is by digitizing them. You can better utilize your office space without needing to store all of those files and save time by not having to unpack and reorganize all of your paper documents. With controlled and secure access to your digitized documents, you eliminate the security and legal risks of physically moving your records.
Additionally, since you won’t be bringing locked cabinets and physical records, your moving and maintenance costs significantly decreased. You also won’t have to worry about water or fire damaging your important documents in your new location. Better yet, your employees won’t have to spend hours searching for a paper record they need in the future.
Digitizing your documents also gives your employees something to look forward to in the new space. Training your staff to use a new digital record storage system is also easier than re-training them on how to locate the documents they need in a new location. Furthermore, with the increasing amount of employees who work from home, digitizing your records allows your employees to securely access critical documents they need with the touch of a button.
Though an investment, digitizing your documents will pay off in employee and customer satisfaction, decreased risk and increased security and time saved.