How important is the safe keeping of paper and electronic records to businesses these days?  And as a consumer, how important is it to you that a company looks after your personal information to a high standard?

I’m guessing (and hoping) that most of you will view both of the above questions with considerable importance. Breaches in Data Protection are big news, so, why is it then that I have seen companies across all manner of industries perform abysmally and sometimes illegally when managing our information?

The answers are rarely simple but through my ARchive Services blog I will attempt to enlighten and amuse you on what we, a professional Records Management company, have seen and heard in the pursuit of blissful Records Management compliance.

We’ve got plenty of storage space onsite!

This was a comment from the owner of a thriving business. The staff working there had a different view of things and invited me to see for myself. I walked into their office and immediately saw a pyramid of cheap stationery boxes collapsing into one another against the back wall. This was in full view of any client that walked through the front door causing headaches (and eye sores!) to the Office Manager.  I was told that there was no order to these boxes and they had no way of knowing where any particular file was.

After explaining that the owner of the business was happy with the current situation because it wasn’t costing them anything (methinks it has cost them several prospective clients who have quickly exited the building after seeing how they ‘look after’ their files) I was given a tour around the other rooms of the building to see the remainder of their archive.  I found files tucked away with the electric meter, boxes in cupboards that were being used for other purposes and to take the biscuit so to speak, a few boxes were even in the kitchen sink.  It was at this point that I realised why I hadn’t been offered a cup of coffee!

All’s well that ends well and the office staff managed to persuade the owner to use our services and are safe in the knowledge that all files and boxes are now traceable by barcode.

The Verdict

The above is only one example and, humour aside; it is genuinely worrying just how many organisations fail to properly look after your personal information.  It seems that an efficient and secure method of filing is not built into the company structure and is often only addressed in response to disaster.

As mentioned earlier, this trend doesn’t discriminate against industry. I’ve come across poor archiving in Education, Legal, Medical and Finance and if I were to name names, I’m sure you’d be shocked. I won’t of course, but the next time you give your personal information to a company, perhaps you’ll ask them exactly how they look after their archive...I would!