Good morning Kelly,

WHY does your company wants to get rid of its records center?

In general, there is NO economic justification for converting paper records to electronic format purely in order to save on storage of paper. 

Storing paper on a shelf is very, very cheap; converting paper to electronic formats is very, very expensive. 

If you need it, I have an analysis tool (Excel workbook) you can use to perform a cost comparison.

The rationale for converting paper to an electronic format is usually based on ACCESS requirements:  some combination of a very high retrieval rate, multiple users in different locations needing access to the records more or less at the same time, being able to view documents whilst having clients on the phone, etc.

Also, there is a far more economically-justifiable alternative to converting the entire back file. This is to convert only such records as are in use:  this is known as "scan-on-demand". The concept is:  if you need a record, scan it; if you don't need it, let it sit on a shelf until its retention expires.

If your company is "just tired of operating a records center", there are plenty of commercial records centers in Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey that would be happy to get your business.

Best regards,

Fred
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frederic J. Grevin
Vice-President, Records Management
New York City Economic Development Corporation
www.nycedc.com
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212-312-3903 (w)

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