records retention

Now’s a great time—before the calendar and your budget run out—to tackle those special projects that will help you get organized for the new year. Whether you’re looking at your long-delayed plan for records indexing, classification, imaging, relocation or destruction, now’s the time to get it done.

Need a little more convincing? Consider the potential payback. You probably know that 80 percent of employees waste 30 minutes each day retrieving information, while another 60 percent spend more than an hour duplicating the work of their colleagues. So any effort you make to organize your records and reduce the number of records you keep will cut time and costs. That’s an indisputable step in the right direction.

If you’re ready to go, think about these four projects I typically suggest for most businesses’ end-of-year to-do list:

1. Index and classify unindexed records
This key project can boost your retrieval accuracy and help you identify records ripe for destruction. Translation: You’ll find what you need faster and streamline your business process. In some cases, records managers who index, classify and apply retention to previously unindexed records find they can destroy 10 to 30 percent of the records, which can result in significant reduction in both volume and costs.

2. Selective or complete back-file imaging
Converting physical documents to digital format and putting them in a web-based repository delivers easy document access. One Iron Mountain team worked with a large insurance company to scan 400,000 claims forms—more than 200 million images—and then reboxed the hard-copy records. The new digital archive increased the company’s efficiency, reduced its risk, and better prepared it for any future litigation or audits, and it was all accomplished for half the original budgeted cost. Your project may not be nearly that big, but the impact can be equally significant.

3. Packing and inventory preparation
Once you’ve identified and indexed records to be stored offsite, you still have to get them there. That’s an Iron Mountain specialty: We’ll do all the heavy lifting, with secure Chain-of-Custody, so you and your team can focus on your core business affairs.

4. One-time shredding projects
You may already have a secure shredding program with Iron Mountain, but the end of the year gives you one last chance to purge records you no longer need. It’s all part of that “fresh start for the new year” feeling.

A good information management program focuses on cost control, accessibility to records, compliance and risk mitigation. Iron Mountain’s project teams have the expertise you need to face these and other information management challenges as you wrap up your busy year.

So can you take on some or all of these great projects before you ring in 2012? With a little planning and some expert help, I’ll bet you can.