Records Management: A Growing Industry

The number of companies claiming to provide records management services continues to increase daily. It would appear that anyone with a warehouse and a van is offering this service but is it as simple as a warehouse and a van?

In the past when companies were looking for solutions to remove or reduce costs from their business, their first port of call was to remove old files from their expensive office space and put them into deep storage in a remote warehouse where the price was low and access was minimal. This type of service was used for inactive archival documents as a low cost method of keeping them safe until the end of their statutory retention period, when they could then be destroyed.

This was the origin of document storage. This service continues to be used but generally only by those companies who are not as intensely regulated by the minefield of legislation that has recently changed the profile of document storage, towards that of records management, or those that are simply retaining ‘dead’ documents until they can safely destroy them.

Over the years, legislation has evolved to such an extent that companies have had to be far more diligent in the way in which they manage their corporate records; with stringent retention policies, group standards, and procedural compliance, all being created to adhere to the ever changing legislative requirements.

Understandably, as a direct consequence, technology too has developed in leaps and bounds. Companies now require active management; so they can quickly and easily locate and retrieve the information that they are looking for. Not only does this enable organisations to meet their statutory obligations, but can also give them a competitive edge when talking directly to their customers on the phone for example. Storing information is no longer as simple as putting boxes in an dark, remote, warehouse.

Despite the introduction of computers and the electronically created stored data they have given rise to, we produce more paper per employee than ever before. How many meetings have you attended where every participant has printed off a copy of the agenda that was emailed to them and where each person then proceeds to make notes during a meeting on an A4 notepad, as opposed to directly entering the data on to their PC?

It is a fair assumption that many of those participants will also print off and keep a copy of the minutes and action points arising out of the meeting. Companies are thus, finding the paperless office a myth. However the less-paper office is becoming a definite reality.

All personnel are potential ‘records’ creators and they all need to understand whether the information they are creating needs to be stored securely and confidentially or securely destroyed. We have all heard of recent stories of high profile laptops and information being stolen, as well as identity theft fraudsters who rummage in bins to obtain details of clients to assume their identities.

So what are the barriers to starting up a successful records management system? In reality, there are hardly any barriers to starting up a records management company. However, to be successful in this business there has to be a high level of trust and confidence in the supplier by the future client.

One needs to be able to create an environment whereby the records are captured, managed and maintained in a consistent manner irrespective of whether they are electronic or paper. Access to documentation needs also to be restricted to authorised personnel only. One of the major barriers that many organisations face is whether they will be able to access their records when required and to ensure that sensitive data will not fall into the wrong hands. A good records management company should be able to guarantee that records will be physically, or digitally, delivered instantly for urgent items but more normally within 24 hours for the majority of documentation.

Information also needs to be held in a secure environment protected against floods, fire, and intruders. Most records management companies have electronic access restrictions (keypad, proximity card, etc. etc.) to their premises and they enjoy the benefits of secure perimeter fencing and CCTV surveillance, monitoring, systems. For reasons of confidentiality, suppliers should not publicly disclose the identity of their clients to anyone.

In addition to the physical security and protection of the storage environment, documents also need to be shown to be originals, free of alteration; or in the case of soft copy documents, where the original may no longer exist, to be shown as a true facsimile of the original. This may require special management and certainly will need a full audit history as a minimum. Consequently, it is important that a provider is able to adhere to stringent management procedures and controls.

Retention policies must reflect the requirements of law. If the records management supplier is using their systems correctly, they will be able to notify their client when items are falling due for destruction (remember, retaining a document longer than the statutory period is almost as bad as not being able to produce it in the first instance!) Ultimately, the audit trail will result in a Certificate of Destruction being provided to the customer to complete the life cycle of the documentation and to use as evidence that the client has adhered to the principles of their records management programme.

Standing still in this industry is not an option and the goal posts are constantly moving. Simply putting boxes on a shelf and leaving them in perpetuity is no longer acceptable. Destruction review programmes, deep storage solutions, active file management, digitisation, integrated IT systems, and much more, are areas that records management companies need to explore. To meet this ever changing need, the industry is developing ever more sophisticated solutions to automate the programme as much as possible. Smaller companies are benefiting directly as a result of the investment that is being made into systems for multi-national organisations, which makes managing everyone’s documents easier going forwards.

Despite the records management industry becoming a complex business, the barriers of entry remain very low. Anyone with a good reputation, a structurally sound warehouse and reliable transport network is quite capable of starting a records management business. Industry experts in the UK estimate that the outsourced opportunity lies at some £5 billion. However, the market is very diverse with some industry sectors being extremely well developed with their own records management programmes, whilst others have yet to ‘dip their toe’ into the marketplace.

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Submitted by David Fathers, Commercial Manager - Continental Europe, Crown Records Management. David has been in the records management industry for 14 years and has held several key positions within Recall and TDG. He has been a senior manger with Crown Worldwide for the last 5 years.