Out of sight but not out of mind
Preserve your vital documents ‘somewhere in the basement’ and they may be lost for ever. Far better to let the professionals, like G4S’s Secure Logistics operations, look after your precious data
Have you ever lost or mislaid an important document? In this age of digital technology, when so much communication is paperless, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that official papers still play a vital role in our lives and need to be kept safe.
The first acknowledgement of our arrival in this world receives recognition in the form of a birth certificate. Driving licences, passports, marriage certificate, medical card, insurance policies, credit cards, investments and many other legal documents, and ultimately a death certificate, mark our progress through life.
At various times, we need to produce one or more of these, either as proof of identity or to make important transactions. It is only then that we realise – perhaps after a move or some other event – that we can no longer recall where we have put them.
Fortunately, we can apply for copies of most of the legal documents that have been issued to us, but a long and inconvenient wait is likely to ensue, depending on where in the world we live.
We take it for granted, of course, that the authorities we apply to for these duplicates can produce them without any problem, as indeed they can because they invest huge sums in establishing retrieval systems and storage facilities in which to house the originals.
Businesses also need the same level of protection for their valuable documents – everything from financial accounts and personnel records to designs for new product development and management strategy. Plans, confidential proposals, contracts, deeds and guarantees are other vital documents that need to be kept secure.
Putting them in a safe is one option, of course, but burglary, fire or flood could prove that to be an unwise decision. Instead, a growing number of companies and organisations are opting for a single solution that solves a number of problems: Secure Data and Document Management.
As one of the leading providers is this sector, G4S is well placed to explain the advantages:
- it moves the responsibility for keeping essential data, in physical or digital form, from a business with limited means of security to a centre that is purpose-built to house and keep track of vast numbers of items. This assists in keeping down the amount of office paperwork.
- companies offering such services have sophisticated retrieval systems. No searching in office safes, dusty cellars or inaccessible lofts for documents that no one thought would ever be needed again and no one can remember where they were put. Just provide a reference number and the contractor delivers the papers to your door.
- companies like G4S Setecsa in Latin America, are combining archiving with digital recording - they not only store your documents safely and label them for easy retrieval, but also scan them and set up a password-protected on-screen view of those documents. This means that a customer can view a stored document almost instantly, on a computer in his office, without needing to disturb it from its safe resting place. If it is needed, it’s easy to find and deliver, and can then be returned if necessary.
Your employees may come and go, taking with them the memory of where they placed your valuable documents for safekeeping, but by placing your business’s vital paperwork in the hands of professionals you have peace of mind that they can be at your fingertips in no time at all.
The same was certainly not true of old documents relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald, and the killing two days later of Oswald by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Unbelievably, for documents that may prove to be of great historic importance, they turned up unexpectedly in February this year, nearly 45 years after the assassination, having been locked safely away in a Dallas courthouse ... and then forgotten.
This page is an edited version of the article featured in the September 2008 edition of International.
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Out of sight but not out of mind