Many of your organization's documents include invaluable information that must be protected. To that end, you need to invest in the best available document security. However, before you do this, you need to actually store your documents somewhere so that they can be secured. In general, there are two options: on-site document storage and off-site document storage. Let's explore how each option affects your ability to maintain secure document storage.
Document theft
On-site document storage
Document theft is a concern for all, so you need to establish protection against this. Digital on-site data storage provides you with the ability to easily encrypt all of your data. However, if you’re still storing physical documents on-site, you could be putting your data at risk of being stolen via a physical break-in.
Off-site document storage
Out of sight, out of mind does not apply to documents being stored at an off-site location. Off-site document storage solutions may offer high-level document security from the beginning but that does not mean they are impenetrable. Plus, if you’re off-site storage is broken into, it could be difficult for you to attend to the break-in if the location is not close to your office.
Document destruction or damage caused by disasters
On-site document storage
Flooding, fires and other disasters that occur at your organization's facilities all put your on-site documents at risk for irreversible damage or destruction – if you are using physical documents. If you convert your important files into a digital format, you have options to store backups or access cloud protection to keep your documents safe.
Off-site document storage
Because off-site document storage is away from your facilities, once again it would be difficult for you to protect your documents if a natural disaster were to strike. A 10-minute drive could mean the difference between saving your files from a fire or flood.
Additional document storage and protection
On-site document storage
Regardless of whether your organization currently possesses a hundred documents or a hundred million documents, you will eventually need to secure additional documents. With digital files, more storage can easily be obtained. However, if you are once again still using paper documents, extra storage will quickly pose a problem for organizations that deal with a constant influx of new data that needs to be secured.
Off-site document storage
With off-site document storage, your potential capacity is limited by available space at your storage facility and the cost to store a growing number of documents. This could be harmful for organizations that need the flexibility to be able to secure a large number of documents at a moment's notice.
Document accessibility
On-site document storage
Although you want to be able to fully secure your documents against damage, loss or theft, you also want to make sure that the proper personnel can access them when necessary. With on-site document storage, this is not difficult, as long as the authorized personnel are physically on-site to access the documents. This is especially true with on-site digital documents that can be accessed with a few clicks of your mouse.
Off-site document storage
If your documents are stored at a facility off-site, it will be inconvenient for anybody to try and access them. Your business would be wasting valuable time and money having yourself or an employee travel to get the documents. It would also be difficult to retrieve a document in the case of an emergency if your files are stored at an alternate location.
Which document storage style is best for your organization?
Off-site document storage is no longer relevant in our digital age. With options to have your important physical documents made into digital copies that can be accessed anywhere at any time, on-site digital storage is the clear winner.
