(Originally published by the International Legal Technology Association – ILTA)
As law firms attempt to reduce costs associated with managing physical files, information governance (IG) professionals are often tasked with renegotiating offsite document storage contracts.
These efforts focus, naturally, on the contracted rates in order to reduce bottom-line spending, but entering negotiations with only the goal of reducing the cost of storage-per-box is like wearing blinders.
By ignoring the policies and processes related to records management, firms miss critical opportunities to improve workflows, increase efficiency and reduce overall storage volumes –– all of which can lead to increased risks and costs. The only effective way to reduce spending on offsite storage accounts is to create IG policies that limit growth of inventory and eventually reduce account volumes.
This goal can be accomplished when cost containment initiatives are coupled with a healthy IG policy, efficient processes and a robust records management system.
