Document storage in London; the pros and cons.

April 27th, 2021

As a business grows so does the amount of paperwork it generates, causing document management to quickly become unmanageable and inefficient. Outsourced document storage is a great way to manage this issue since documents won’t be crowding the day-to-day workspace; this is an issue that is hugely predominant in London.

One word that pops into most people’s minds when they hear London is “expensive”. This is true, and when it comes to businesses in London, optimising finances is of the utmost importance.

This also extends to floorspace – according to Statista in the first quarter of 2020, offices in the West End had an average rent per square foot per month of 37.5 British pounds. This means that the floor space of an average filing cabinet in London costs around £450 annually. 

Document Storage in London, the pros:

1. Document storage can save businesses money 

As mentioned above, floor space is at a premium cost in London, and if a business can generate more value by having increased capacity, outsourcing document storage can become a significant return on investment. This is often an under-explored option for businesses looking to increase their net profit, for example extra employee desks or equipment can be fitted in the saved space to scale-up a business.

2. Document storage saves space 

This point is fairly self-explanatory, but it definitely deserves a spot on this list. Outsourcing document storage helps businesses de-clutter, as well as better manage their documents with proper document management systems. Data mishandling has lost millions of pounds in the UK alone, yet if documents are stored in a secure facility, this mitigates the risk significantly. Even the man-hours spent on shuffling documents around the workplace can accrue a significant cost, for example if an employee is paid £15 an hour, and over a year spends 20 hours moving documents in the office, this costs a business £300 a year on an activity that can be eliminated with outsourced document storage. 

3. Documents can be securely collected and stored

Some business owners think that the logistics of moving documents to an outsourced facility is a difficult and unsafe process, but that’s entirely untrue. Here at Pearl Scan, we offer a collection service, which can also aid in preparing documents for transport, if needed. The vans we use for transport are un-marked so they won’t be a target. Once transferred to one of our scanning bureaus, documents are kept in highly-secure, ISO accredited Pearl Scan warehouses. 

4. Scalability 

If a business chooses to outsource document storage, it can massively increase their workplace capacity if the amount of paperwork in the office is a bottleneck for growth. Outsourcing document storage allows businesses to push past this limitation and operate on a much larger capacity, without moving their own operations to a larger facility. 

Document Storage in London, the cons: 

1. Sometimes document storage is not suitable for all businesses

In some circumstances, documents have a long retention period, meaning some need to be stored for 10 plus years. In such a situation, we would instead recommend scanning these documents, as the total cost would be cheaper than the cost of storing documents for this length of time. 

2. Documents aren’t instantly accessible

Sometimes old documentation needs to be accessed, and if it’s not in the office this could pose a problem. We have a solution to documents that might require access, a service called scan on demand, which combines document storage with digital access to the paperwork within 24 hours of request. 

Why not get in touch with us at Pearl Scan to find out how your business could benefit from outsourced document storage?