Digitising 101 for records and information management

How a digitising program guide helps you plan, execute and elevate your company records

Successful Records and Information Management (RIM) takes planning, organisation and a comprehensive strategy. With many moving parts for taking control of physical and digital records from creation through active use to secure storage and possible planned destruction, a well-thought out plan is key. Done well, RIM will help limit information risk, manage costs and lay the foundation for big data analytics in your organisation.

Why digitise now?

Slower processes. Frustrated customers. Reduced efficiencies. This is what awaits your business with mismanaged information.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that storing paper in premium-priced office space isn’t always worth the cost. Many organisations are evaluating square footage needs and determining how much they really need. Through digitising current and legacy records, people are learning they can eliminate space taken up by physical onsite paper storage.

With the right solution, either an offsite or data center based storage option, you gain access to your information whenever you need it while streamlining your records retention schedule. From construction to R&D, HR to marketing, document sharing and collaboration are essential for the success of your business and digitisation of files makes it all possible.

Where digitising starts

Before you begin your RIM digitising project, consider the following when assessing what you want to achieve:

• Searchability/shareability: Records are typically spread across systems, applications, format types, departments and locations. As such, information’s ability to spread and change shape makes it challenging and costly to manage. However, controlled digital record repositories make it easier for people to access any file at any time.
• Process productivity: Records management processes and procedures can be hard to keep under control especially when it’s not in a digital format. To counteract operational inefficiencies, look for work processes that can be made easier or more efficient by converting paper to digital records.
• Office space usability: Physical filing cabinets full of papers can take up expensive office space and, over time, slow down important document retrieval. Digitised records can free up valuable real estate and increase information access.

Scanning and data capture’s biggest drivers:

Records security and compliance

While a “keep everything just in case” mentality may seem well intentioned, it can often be expensive and hinder operational efficiencies. To determine what to keep and what to dispose of for legal, compliance and business reasons, an enforceable records retention schedule is a necessity. In our short guide, Getting it Right from the Start, The Basics of Records Retention Schedules, we’ve clearly outlined ways to help you take important steps towards creating a retention schedule for your organisation.

Once you know what you’re keeping and where it’s kept, you’ll be in a better position to make a scanning project effective. Without scanning every document in your archive and all new incoming information, Iron Mountain can help you solve complex records management problems. Not only do we help determine which documents are used infrequently and are right for closed-box storage but we also offer open-storage options to help you access documents you regularly need to view.