On a more serious note, if you are a multi-national interested in international records storage options - check out this PRISM interactive Google Map of its members:
http://www.prismintl.org/news/2011/03/member-map-0
There are a lot of options out there!
***************************
John Phillips
Information Technology Decisions
www.infotechdecisions.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Larry Medina
Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2012 4:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Paperless Office - Why It - WILL NOT EVER HAPPEN !
John's examples are all valid ones- the two I'd like to draw attention to are #4 and #5 because they are quite closely related.
India (and no I'm not picking on a Nation State or a People) is one of the centers for imaging in the World and not just the offshore imaging of business records. If you've ever done a bulk photo conversion project of your OWN PERSONAL photos, hopefully you've asked where the work was actually being done that you were able to get the splendid "per image price" offered
=) but I digress...
My point was one of the follow-on services on completion of imaging and indexing projects routinely offered by these vendors is the storage of your source materials.
*IF* you have a requirement or desire to retain the source materials post-conversion, you need to decide where and how to do this. The logic provided by the vendors is, well... you wouldn't want to pay the cost of return shipping all of these items, then need to re-box them and index them
with pointers for physical storage of these source materials, would you?
So, they offer you the option of allowing them to provide long term storage for you.
NOW, don't get me wrong- there are some commercial record centers being built in Asia and the Sub Continent... but they are NOT being built to US Standards or specifications for environmental controls or protection from floods, or other known environmental and natural disaster hazards. And they don't have the same fire protection or safety/alarming standards to comply with either.
I think many/most of us have seen plenty of footage of monsoon season and the subsequent flooding and landslides in certain countries, along with the horrible images of damage and lives lost.
The concept of a facility "outside of the 500 year flood plain" may be completely lost here, and the opportunity to perform a site visit to investigate the conditions your records are being stored in rather limited.
In addition, I've seen photos from a few friends who have been 'back home'
of these large yards of shipping containers that are FILLED with cartons post-processed source materials that are "in storage" for clients.
Again, this is NOT intended as a broad brush to characterize all service providers in a specific location as providing service that is not adequate to meet your needs or that is costing you more than you should be paying...
but if there is a REQUIREMENT that you retain these records and you MAY BE called upon to produce them at some time, Caveat Emptor.
Larry
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