Documens Boss

National UK Box storage company embraces document scanning & hosting services, giving their customers the "best of both worlds"

John Symon provides some observations on the recent merger earlier this month between UK box storage company Box-IT with document scanning, hosting & business process outsource service company, Stortext.

A clear trend is emerging in the marketplace - paper (box) storage companies are adding electronic filing, storage and retrieval options for their clients.  Several drivers for this include:

• increased competition and pricing pressures from other paper (box) storage companies
• the growth of "digitally born" documents which, despite the paper mountains that still exist, is likely to impact the volumes of physical documents kept over time
• increased acceptance by commercial and public sector organisations in outsourcing their document intensive business processes
• a growing acceptance of electronically hosted document management & retrieval solutions as the market begins to also embraces SaaS (software as a service) for other line of business applications
• the need for compliance with an array of legislation in areas such as Data Protection, Freedom of Information for public records and an increasing plethora of financial regulations, all of which are very document intensive and which can now be better managed by adopting best practice EDRMS (Electronic Document & Records Management) solutions
• the environmental impact of paper output (and storage) and the growing trend towards the adoption of "green" information management solutions

 
While many paper storage companies have begun to offer scan on-demand services for client's who require ad hoc reference to a specific file held in storage, many others are now recognising the value of offering a more complete "Total Records Management" solution that includes paper and digital storage as well as hosting and business process solutions.

According to Simon Ellis, managing director of the merged Box-IT and Stortext business " the cross over in expertise and services of both companies creates a seamless solution for both paper storage and digital (document) processing. This is ideal for forward looking companies seeking security, compliance and greater efficiency and at the same time reducing the environmental impact caused by more traditional process and archival management". 

From an applications perspective for the customer, this opens up some reassuring options of keeping the original documents (especially for those records that require long term retention) while benefiting from the access, retrieval and distribution benefits of electronic document management.  One typical application where this has significant benefit is in the area of HR records. Particularly for larger organisations who have multiple locations and dispersed employees, having an outsourced central repository for both the physical and electronic (hosted) HR records allows dynamic access regardless of location and provides "as you go" filing of employee records from any location using (MFD's) multi-function devices or desktop upload of scanned or electronic documents . 

Cites Ellis, "one of the key benefits that digital document processing brings to the traditional box storage business is greater experience in structured information capture enhancing catalogue content  of the archived material  thus providing more effective access and retrieval from the archive. We still expect our box/file based   (paper) storage business to grow, particularly now we are able to link what is scanned to where it is stored.The ability to capture data from scanned documents and drive a  business process, whether HR records, invoice processing, or other transactional documents, further enhances our capability and value to our clients"

Major multi-national box storage companies such as Iron Mountain, Crown Records Management, Recall and others no doubt will continue to expand their digital document management strategies to provide such a Total Records Management solution while there appears to be a growing interest by generalist Facilities Management companies to at least add traditional paper Records Management to their portfolio of services which ranges from the provision of work wear uniforms to washroom services or water dispensers. How soon before they, too, see the benefits of providing an electronic solution?

As such companies expand their electronic records management offering there will be increasing opportunities to acquire both capture,process and output management technologies as well as scanning & hosting service businesses - particularly those with with solid annuity revenues and an established customer base for cross selling and upselling opportunities. Equally, there are several small to medium size box (paper) storage businesses that would be an attractive diversification for those companies already providing an electronic only service.  Document Boss are well placed to identify the best strategic fit for companies seeking to acquire in this sector.

The food chain for the provision of outsourced document & records management services gets even broader.

 For more details on the merger between Box-IT and Stortext click here