Images on Line have worked with this customer since 2006 after meeting at a trade exhibition in London. During this period we have
provided a bespoke on-demand microfilm/paper scanning solution where our on-line cloud facility is utilised. In summary, we hold the archives containing several thousand pension files in a logical filing format. A weekly request is received detailing any files which are needing to be reviewed. In turn these are scanned and uploaded to our cloud-based platform where they can be accessed and viewed. In addition over the years, several hundred boxes have been catalogued and sent for either scanning and or archival storage with again on-demand scanning for a percentage of these. Periodically a request might be urgent and these requests are delivered on the same day.
The Challenge
The company in question has had the benefit of being housed in a large and very spacious office complex adjacent to Gatwick Airport for many years. With the Covid 19 pandemic of 2020 and subsequent lockdowns a more flexible working approach has been developed. This meaning staff no longer needed to be in the office during working hours and home working is now encouraged for part of the week. As a result of this a decision was made to downsize the office to a more manageable environment with the added cost savings/benefits etc. The challenge being that there was still a significant amount of data to be kept with the new offices having very limited storage. To compound matters a 10-month window from vacating the existing office to moving into the new premises was instigated. Thus, staff would be working from home during this period but still requiring full access to their records.
The Solution(s)
Once the decision to move had been made it was pretty much all hands to the pumps and Images on Line were asked for a solution for the predicted archiving bottleneck. As time was of the essence we recommended the easiest way would be for us to remove all of the records as a temporary measure with a view to returning only a small part of the library once the new offices were ready for occupation. Prior to collecting the records, a basic inventory of these was created. This being by department, description and process. I.e. Scan and Destroy, Scan & Keep, Store Only, Store and Review.
During the interim period full access to the records had been maintained and all of the records identified for scanning were processed. All records including those requested on-demand have been uploaded to our cloud based portal.
12 months later and after successfully moving into the new offices the records remain at Images on Line. Such was the success of the solutiona decision to continue with this arrangement has been implemented. The boxes marked for review are gradually being drip fed back to the customer with a similar decision process being made as above. In turn they are returned to us once evaluated with a revised status.
To contact Images on Line call 01293 541942 or use our enquiry link https://www.imagesonline.co.uk/contact/
