The unfortunate flooding in Texas and the neighboring State of Louisiana serves as a wake-up call to businesses to make sure that their documents are properly backed up and stored in case of disaster. Floodwaters do not respect people or businesses; file cabinets and storage boxes full of documents can be rendered unusable very quickly when flooding occurs. The best way to handle this is to have document management system in place that includes regular scanning of current paperwork, offshore storage of backup hard copy files, and cloud or off-site storage of electronic files.

What Would Be Lost In Case Of Disaster?

Even though many documents within organizations are produced and transmitted to others electronically, there is still plenty of paper that circulates within an average business.

Every day's mail brings a new supply of invoices, correspondence, orders, and other documents.

  • Electronic documents may be printed out, annotated, and filed.
  • Files containing medical records, taxes, legal documents, and more from the past may still be in hard copy format.
  • Blueprints and other large-format documents may be in hard copy.
  • Irreplaceable photos may have no backup copies.
  • And the list goes on…

Water damage could wipe out years of compiled information or destroy projects in progress if there is no electronic backup system. While small amounts of flooded materials might be recoverable, saving boxes of documents after the fact is not feasible, nor is it safe as mold quickly grows in piles of soggy paper.

Prevent Information Loss Through A Scanning Plan

The best way to prevent future damage is to work with an experienced provider of scanning services such as The Document Group of Houston. They are prepared to scan your materials on-site or back at their facility. Because they use experienced scanning professionals and state-of-the-art equipment, they can get through large quantities of documents quickly, while ensuring that quality and resolution of scanned images is high.

Besides providing a needed service that can help your business recover after a disaster, The Document Group can develop a plan to get you on track. For example:

  • They can help you prioritize the documents you have to scan if you are new to the process. They will develop a schedule for getting it all done.
  • They can add permission to limit and access specific documents if your files include medical documents, legal documents, or other sensitive financial or confidential information.
  • They can obtain hard copies of materials for a specified time or indefinitely store your documents in a safe, off-site facility.
  • They can back up your documents on secure servers, so that even if a natural disaster affects your facilities, you would still be able to access your documents.
  • They can schedule to scan any materials on a periodic basis, or work with your personnel to make sure that pertinent files are entered into the system.

Consider The Impact Of Document Loss On Your Business

As a businessperson, you may be concerned with the cost of the initial scanning and file maintenance, but consider the impact on your business if all your files were destroyed by fire, flood, explosion, or other unplanned events. How could you reconstruct your customer files? Your recent transactional history? Your corporate documents? The historic files you might need for tax purposes or other reasons? Your historic photographs of company personnel and events? All of these materials could be irretrievably lost in the case of a flood or other disaster.

A call to The Document Group will prove to you that the cost of safe, efficient document backup is not as costly as you might imagine. For more information, contact us at 713-343-4000 or via our website.

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