Physical Archiving

your Choices
Most physical archives are stored in a variety of ways, all of them expensive – on practice premises, in other owned or rented premises, in self access rented storage facilities or with dedicated storage firms. Whichever system or mix of systems is used it gives rise to considerable costs.

PRACTICE PREMISES
This is by far the most expensive storage method and is to be avoided. It rapidly becomes messy and unreliable. Such space is far better utilised for value adding staff rather than storage of cabinets, boxes or shelves of files.

SELF ACCESS OFF SITE STORAGE
A very expensive option in terms of rental and staff time spent traveling to and fro and administering the archive. This type of storage can quickly turn into an expensive and time consuming shambles.

Even a garage, loft or shed whilst appearing to be a cheap option still requires someone to spend time, traveling to administer it. We have seen self storage administered by partners of firms - their time is worth upwards of £150/hour. It should not be spent organizing storage boxes and figuring out how to archive files.

DEDICATED STORAGE COMPANIES
Again an expensive option but at least it saves staff and management time. This is probably the lesser evil, but it is still rather costly.

THE SOLUTION
AFM UK can take your existing physical archive and store it for a fraction of the cost of dedicated storage companies. We offer a practical and flexible solution tailored to a client’s needs. Your core activities should not be interrupted every time a file or papers are needed from storage.

File storage must be more than merely taking them from one place and putting them in another. It must be based on the need to securely store critical information and reduce the risk of misfiling and misplacing files. A professional approach to storing files is crucial to the success of any business. We will show you how.