Data archiving is an important process that many companies are reluctant about following. Explained in simple terms, it refers to archiving documents that are no longer being actively used and moving them for separate storage. The decision to archive documents brings both security and functionality benefits to the table.

As your company's collection of data grows, you will need to find more effective ways to retain data that you don't regularly access, but need to retain. This is where data archiving comes in. However, data archiving isn't as simple as tossing your documents into a folder – digital or physical – that you won't access very often. Improper data archiving will make your documents harder to manage, cost you money and even cause accidental destruction. The only way to avoid this is to know what data archiving pitfalls there are, and how to avoid them. To this end, make sure to avoid the following errors associated with data archiving.

In order to take full advantage of the benefits of digital technology, you are likely considering digitizing your company's archives. However, you are wondering whether or not taking this step will fit into your budget. Fortunately, you don't have to have a multi-million dollar budget in order to successfully digitize your archives. Here are the three steps that you need to take when digitizing archives on a budget:

For libraries and archives, data is the only asset that really matters. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to consistently preserve all of the data that your library or archive stores because physical storage mediums such as paper and microfilm break down over time and are very susceptible to damage. What's more, these mediums are expensive and time consuming to reproduce. Unless you have a high-tech, airtight facility wherein nobody has physical access to your archives, this can make the outlook for long-term preservation seem dismal.