Document management is the process of efficiently and appropriately creating, organising, storing and destructing information for a business. Therefore, a good document management strategy can promote knowledge sharing within your company as well as preserve business confidentiality. As a critical part of document mangement process, good document storage practice will enhance your company's business process efficiency and employee efficiency.
As such, in this article Spaceship discusses why we should use external document storage and how we can find a reliable document storage company in Singapore. Hope this information will be helpful for your business.
3 reasons why your business should use external document storage in Singapore
Following the trend for going paperless, many business processes have been digitalised. Despite that, daily business operations still produce many paper documents. One big reason is that the law requires that documents, such as contracts, invoices, receipts, purchase orders, sales brochures, and all legal documents should be stored in physical copies for certain years. (Find required number of years for different documents here.)
As a result, companies need to find ways to properly store these legal or accounting documents via their own or external warehouse. Currently, there are two options for companies in Singapore:
(1) Set up in-house document management team; or
(2) Engage third-party document storage service.
You may have your own considerations and here are three (quite compelling) reasons your company should outsource document storage.
1. In-House storing of documents takes up too much space
For document storage, we are talking about at least tens of carton boxes or hundreds of ring files which could take up few bookshelves. And these file should be ensured safe and confidential. Do you have so much private space in the office to store these boxes for years to come?
2. Special protection is required
As aforementioned, some documents due to its private and confidential nature or high importance may require a high level of security. To ensure that, reliable protection system against fire, theft, damage, etc should be in place and maintained in the long run. This requires a significant investment in resources and time from your company, yet your company still need to bear some risk of document damage.
3. Extra Administrative Workload For Employees
Document management can be time-consuming and physically demanding when it comes to documentation and file searching. If your company has an exclusive team to manage documents, would it be cheaper if you outsource the document storage?
If document management is handled by employees as additional work, this can cause extra stress on them and affect their efficiency in their main tasks.
On the other hand, professional storage companies provide high-quality service at low cost and will share your risk of document damage. Some also help with packing, document retrieval and disposal to make your storage experience 100% hassle-free. Better of all, As innovative as Spaceship is, you will have an online catalogue of your documents for you to manage and schedule retrievals anywhere any time.
Intereted in know more about document storage services?
4 Document Storage Companies In Singapore
1. Spaceship Singapore
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Services: Indexing Documents, Document Shredding, Online Catalogue (Digital Imaging), Pickups/Returns, Packing Service
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Contact: +65 6220 0126
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Website: www.spaceship.com.sg
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Spaceship Features:
- Delivery of double walled carton boxes
- Online catalogue for customers to track and schedule document return
- 24/7 CCTV, fire protection system & safety guards in the warehouse
- Document Shredding
- Each carton is indexed and barcoded to ensure trackability
2. Crown Records Management (Crown RMS)
Services: Media Management, Document Management, Secure Destruction, Digital Imaging
Crown RMS contact number: +65 6861 6818
Crown RMS website: https://www.crownrms.com/intl/en-sg/
Address: 36 Pioneer Road, Singapore 628504
Crown RMS features:
- Deliver empty boxes and collect packed boxes
- Online catalogue for a customer to track and schedule document return
- 24/7 CCTV plus safety guards in the warehouse
- Mezzanine racking system for manual collection of files to reduce mechanical downtime
3. Iron Mountain Data & Records Management
Services: Digital Transformation, Information Management, Secure Storage, Secure Destruction
Iron Mountain contact number: +65 6262 5622
Iron Mountain website: http://www.ironmountain.com.sg/
Address: 28 Quality Road, Singapore 618828
Iron Mountain features:
- Online ordering and inventory management
- Pick and pack fulfillment
- Climate-controlled storage
- Separate storage for film, magnetic and mixed media to prevent cross-contamination.
4. Mitsui-Soko (Singapore) Document Management
Services: Media Management, Document Management, Secure Destruction, Active-File Management
Mitsui-Soko contact number: +65 6227 6935
Mitsui-Soko website: https://www.mitsui-soko.com.sg/abLocation.aspx
Address: No.2 Pioneer Sector Lane, Singapore 628321
Considerations For Choosing Storage Provider
If you have decided to outsource document storage, here are 6 aspects to help you assess storage companies. By comparing their capability and price, you shall be able to make a right decision for your company.
1. Document Confidentiality
Questions to ask
- How is the company going to ensure the confidentiality of the documents?
- What would they do in the case of information leak?
Some good practices:
- Restrict the access to the warehouse.
- Use the electronic entry system.
- Install an alarm system.
- Have 24/7 CCTV
2. Ease Of Retrieval
Questions to ask
- Where is the warehouse?
- Can we access warehouse ourselves?
- When we request document retrievals, is there any restriction on the time and location for receiving documents?
- Can we request for document retrieval on weekends or at night?
Sometimes your business needs to access some documents immediately. To avoid unnecessary disruption to your business, you may want to choose storage companies who provide more flexibility and assist more with document retrieval.
3. Safe Keeping of Documents
Questions to ask
- How is the company going to protect the document from fire, water, and other damages?
- Is pest control in place?
- Is the warehouse climate controlled in terms of humidity, temperature, light and air quality?
High temperature and humidity speed up the deterioration of paper documents while temperature fluctuations will cause the paper to expand and contract, leading to paper buckling and ink flaking. Light may also darken or bleach the paper. And you can avoid all these simply by directly asking the storage company.
4. Records Management
Questions to ask
- How will you track your documents? Can you manage documents remotely via website or app?
- Does the company help with online catalogue, digital imaging and shredding?
Records management can be very time-consuming. Glad that now you can outsource it to a professional company. You may need to decide on the need for digital imaging and shredding of your document before looking for the right storage company.
5. Price
Questions to ask
- What is your budget for document storage?
- Which qualified company offers the best price?
- Are they willing to offer a special rate if you engage longer-term service?
6. Return Lead Time
Questions to ask
- How long does it take for them to deliver documents after the request?
- Can they do same-day delivery and collection?
Depending on how often you may need to have urgent document retrieval, you may choose a company that meets your needs.
Are Your Ready To Start Storing?
Owing to the importance of office document, cheap office document storage might not be what you want. Instead, security, accessibility and return lead time play a larger part when it comes to choosing storage service for your documents.
Spaceship - Secure, Friendly and Nimble Storage Service for Your Document Storage
As a local innovative storage company, Spaceship offers all-inclusive friendly service including storage, packing, transportation, delivery and inventory management.
Secure
We understand that every document embodies high potential value, so we are committed to minimising risk and cost for you. We have dedicated an entire warehouse solely to document storage to safeguard your records.
To further enhance security at our document storage facility, we have inbuilt an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) to reduce the interactions between your document box and man. This decreases confidentiality breach and accidental damages.
Climate-controlled
Additionally, our air-conditioned warehouse can best preserve the quality and eligibility of your documents for years to come.
Fast
We also take pride in our speed. At our level of dedication to customers like you, we react to your requests as soon as possible. This will be a great relief when you urgently need to access your documents.
If you are looking for suitable document storage services, you can chat with our friendly storage specialist at +65 6220 1026.
We are happy to help you :)
