Record Retention: A Retention Schedule is Essential

It's about reducing legal risks, saving time and money

Proper record retention is an essential component of operating a business. Making sure your documents are properly stored, safely managed, protected, and easy to recall when needed can save your organization massive amounts of time, frustration, and—perhaps most importantly—legal headaches. Yet most business leaders aren't experts at record retention, and often don't have the time to micromanage the handling of paperwork. Our Document Management Team and scanning experts at EO Johnson Business Technologies are here to provide valuable insights into the process.

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Start with a schedule

Managing the mountains of documents your organization touches requires diligence. And diligence starts document retention scheduling. A retention schedule is a great way to mitigate your company's legal risk, by establishing parameters for the storage of documents. When a retention schedule is followed, you can rest assured you have access to the records required for government and industry oversight. It also allows you to purge records from the system when they are no longer needed.

A retention schedule goes hand in hand with establishing company policy and processes related to your records, so you can rest assured you are in compliance. And when you partner with a document management team you can evolve your record-keeping protocols, digitize your records and facilitate intelligent document workflow management—so those records that have been kept long enough can be automatically routed for the next steps. Read more about the importance of a record retention schedule. 

Embrace the digital transformation

Record retention is necessary; piles of paperwork are not. The digital transformation allows you to move your vital documents from the physical space to the digital space. Document scanning services can help expedite the process of moving your paper records to an electronic records system. The benefits of this are many.

• Electronic records can be more secure than paper records. Anyone who has left a confidential document on a printer knows—paper can be a huge liability. But with digitized records, access can be limited according to the staff who have clearance or the need to know. You will even be able to black out sensitive data from those who shouldn't see it.
• Finding documents is simplified. Digging through file cabinets is time-consuming and often fruitless. When you partner with document management experts like those at EO Johnson Business Technologies, we can help you establish document management protocols that allow you to locate documents quickly and effortlessly from your device. Come audit time, you'll be able to share document history and ensure regulatory compliance with ease.
• Paper is costly. The paper price tag is vast and vastly misunderstood. Think about all that goes into making, supporting, organizing, storing, managing, searching for, and destroying paper files. From the cost of paper, toner, file cabinets, and square footage of storage space to the human costs: filing, handling, and distribution, paper costs more than 31 times the cost of the paper itself. Here are some stats to consider. Paper storage for the average company doubles every three years. A single filing cabinet with four drawers costs an estimated $27,000 to fill and maintain. And of those paper files we keep, 80% are never used again. That's a lot of overhead for not much benefit.

Moving away from paper-based processes is a journey, and it can come with some hesitation from those who don't feel ready, but our document management team can guide you and your staff through the process, from start to finish.

Searching for scanning services near me and record retention wisdom?

If you're considering digital records solutions with document scanning services and document management expertise, we can help. Contact us for more information about how our Document Management Team and our document scanning services can help you realize all of the benefits of the record retention revolution.