If you’re considering a document management service for your business, you may well be wondering how the storage quotes and costs are calculated. So, here’s a quick guide to some of the factors that go into each and every quotation.
Number or Volume of Documents
Size is everything when it comes to storage. All companies will charge a premium for the volume of documents or other property being secured. So to keep costs down, it’s important that you ensure that you only ever look to store essential items. To help with this, we provide a range of document boxes in varying sizes. So rather than half filling a large container, you can instead use every square inch of a smaller box and save a little money.
To find out more about the various options available and which one might best suit your requirement, take a look at our box size guide. The reason why volume is so important is that it is one of the few variables that a storage company can control and measure. So rather than agonising over individual items, it is far easier to assign a cost to an area. This is certainly the case with document storage and also often applies to self-storage too.
The only real difference being that some self-storage providers offer lock-ups of varying sizes, much like our boxes. Therefore you may not always be able to optimise the space fully, as it is on a much larger scale, but with annual or monthly subsidies based on cubic metres and feet, the quotation process becomes much easier.
To learn more about the costs of self storage vs an offsite storage vendor check out our blog: Self Storage – How much should self storage cost
Type of Document or Item
More often than not, all items will be treated the same. Security is provided for all items, regardless of their relative value. At Secure Data MGT, we use something called the O’Neil barcode, which effectively logs every box or item so that it can be accessed easily and tracked if moved. This, along with a secure storage facility, ensures that nothing goes missing.
However, there may be some instances where a premium may be levied, particularly if a customer requests additional security. These instances are relatively rare, but may occur from time to time. Then of course there may be additional services attached, such as document scanning or special collection. Again, these will need to be factored into the overall quote as they will have a bearing on the costs for the storage company.
Service Add-ons
It’s important to consider the level of service that you will require. While everyone should receive a high standard of care, there are certain added features such as fulfilment services and even consultation that need to be factored in to calculations. As a rule, we don’t hold people down to extended contracts and we certainly won’t make anyone pay for services that they don’t want or need.
Therefore it is important that there is a fixed basic storage option to which other services can be attached if requested. For instance, you may want to have items couriered within a few hours on a regular basis. As this isn’t standard practice, it would need to be considered when creating a quote.
Location
Where you are in the country is only likely to be a factor if you want to have documents delivered or collected. Most businesses are prepared to cover a certain radius, but may charge more for couriering items beyond those reaches. Your actual storage price shouldn’t be impacted of course, as your location has no bearing on how much space you require.
Summary
But at the very heart of any storage calculation are the documents or items themselves. The size and quantity will ultimately decide how much your business will be charged. The more there is, the higher the quotation will be.
This is the most efficient and indeed effective way of managing storage. By allocating a price to a space or an individual box, it makes it much easier for businesses to get an idea of the likely cost and therefore allows them to make a decision on how to proceed.
One thing that is certainly not up for debate is the potential you can make by outsourcing your document storage. Every square foot of office space costs money, within the city of London these premiums can be huge. By keep all your storage on-site, you will be surrendering space that could be used for more effective purposes, such as extra staff or office equipment. So, while a number of factors effect the quotation, it mostly comes down to basic volume.
