Storing data the safe way

8:48am Friday 16th May 2008

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WORCESTERSHIRE business storage specialist Whitefoot-Forward is promoting a storage strategy that highlights the benefits of offsite storage compared with the pitfalls of scanning.

Managing director Michael Whitefoot, of the firm based at Hartlebury Trading Estate, said: "Companies produce mountains of important information each day, much of which must legally be kept for many years.

"What businesses need is a reliable system that allows them to store these documents with complete peace of mind. Because scanning seems like a modern way of doing things, it can seem like an attractive route.

"But in reality, over the lifetime that the information needs to be kept, scanning documents and storing them electronically can cost up to five times more.

Mr Whitefoot said costs to scan were payable up front, whereas the cost of storage was spread over 10 years. This was a big cash flow consideration. "Also, if red ink is present add 10 per cent for colour scanning, as black and white won't scan shades," he added.

Keeping the data safe has hit the headlines recently with Government departments losing electronic data, so computer security can be an additional cost to budget for, as well as training staff to be able to search and retrieve records from the computer.

"After all that cost, the irony is that what staff often do when they find the electronic records is to go and print them on to paper," said Mr Whitefoot.