Records, either paper documents or electronic files, are the evidence of what your business has done, for whom, when and for what reasons. Created by multiple systems and by different staff, your records are used to prove to customers that you have done what was agreed to the required standard and in the required time.
Records also form the financial proof of the existence of your business. They may be required as evidence to Government Departments, Industry Regulators and many other bodies both public and private. They should therefore be managed and retained in a specific manner, depending on the type of record.
Keeping records, for any of the reasons mentioned above or for any other reason, fast and accurate access to the information and evidence is required. If you cannot find the required records, you will waste valuable staff time and may find yourself in breach of regulations and/or contracts.
So what are the risks? Failure to implement a structured and controlled system for managing your records can lead to complications, litigation, loss of customer’s loss of quality and loss of business. Staff will waste time searching for mislaid records, blame for the loss of documents can be misplaced leading to ill feeling. The inability to prove you have done what was agreed, on time to the agreed standard.
The benefits of good records management is the cornerstone of any retention / storage policy. It will reduce cost of storage by reducing the total quantity to be stored and by saving staff time when records are required. In fact the cost of implementing a management system will usually be recovered from the savings to be made.
We can apply these principles to backfile issues, there is no limit to the quantity of records that can have their retention criteria checked. So long as they are identifiable in a database we can apply rules that can result in a significant reduction in the amount of records that require further retention.
Sterling Archives offer a free of charge consultancy service to help you establish the best way to manage your records & data security. In addition to this, we have a solution for every aspect of records management.
About Sterling
The Sterling Data Group is leading the way with data management services. It is our mission to protect our client’s information while assisting clients with compliance and in areas of regulation. After all, Our Business is Your Peace of Mind. Information owned by your business will be in various formats, varying in importance with various retention requirements.
Sterling offer records management – both on and off site, electronic data management in the form of encrypted online backup and recovery services, backup media management services, disaster recovery support and the secure destruction of data. Working with Sterling will enable you to drive down costs, manage the risks associated with data management, retrieval and retention while becoming compliant with regulatory bodies relevant to your business.
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