Piles of files.

AuthorKaelble, Steve
PositionRecord management companies

Records-management companies strive to free up precious office space.

Think the paperless office is on the way? Take a walk through a records-management center and you might think again.

You'll find row after row after row of shelving, filled with boxes and boxes and boxes of files stacked neatly to the roof 25 or 30 feet above. As Michelle Johnson of Records Management Services in Indianapolis understates, "People still like paper."

People like paper so much that Johnson's company has roughly a quarter of a million file boxes stored in its Indianapolis records center. Records Management recently completed an addition--with a higher ceiling.

A lot of offices are swamped with files and filing cabinets unnecessary, files that can't be thrown away but aren't getting regular use. In a doctor's office they might be old patient records. At a CPA firm, they may be clients' tax records from the past few years. At a law firm or some other company, they may be legal documents that must be retained for five or seven years. Records-management companies are ready to help companies put their expensive square footage to more productive use. "The cost to lease space in an office building can be astronomical," notes Jon Merritt of Hogan Transfer and Storage, an Indianapolis agent for Mayflower.

The use of records-management centers, concurs Ed Derring of Kinder Records Management in Evansville, "is inexpensive compared with square footage in an office building. Plus, we provide delivery services and we do all the hauling. You don't have something in mini-storage and have to send a secretary to handle boxes."

Renting a self-storage locker for old files is a bad idea for other reasons as well, says Diane Boyers, president of Record Keepers in Fort Wayne. She's heard of companies that have done that and lost files to fire, flooding and insect or rodent infestation. What's more, Johnson notes, using a records center may even cost less than a self-storage locker, and the records center often has better security, fire protection and climate controls.

Companies hiring a records-management service will find a number of different types of service. The client may be the one who picks files to send to off-site storage, puts them in file boxes and makes records of what files are in each box. Or the records-management company can come to the client's office, load up the appropriate files and make computer records of what is in storage. Some companies, including Records...

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