Today’s Office Is Paper-Full Not Paper Free

New research from Iron Mountain finds European businesses at risk of information loss with chaotic paper storage programmes

London, UK. Oct. 25, 2012 – To mark World Paper Free Day, a new study  from information management company Iron Mountain suggests that the paperless office remains beyond the reach of many European firms. Paper documents remain important to businesses and are unlikely to disappear from the office environment any time soon. However, the study shows that keeping large paper archives on site is causing problems for many, with overburdened and disorganised filing systems exposing businesses to an increased risk of data loss and damage, and preventing them from harnessing the full value of their information.
The study, which spoke to information leaders in the legal, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, financial services and legal sectors across the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain and Hungary, found that more than half (58 per cent) of firms store the majority of their paper records in a central storage repository on office premises. In many cases, the information is archived in the basement, exposing sensitive customer-related and business critical documents to the risk of flood, mold or rodent damage.
More than half (51%) of the companies Iron Mountain surveyed say that the bulk of their important customer communication is stored on paper, yet as many as 45 per cent of respondents said their access and storage capabilities were under “significant strain”, leaving them unable to retrieve information quickly enough. 37 per cent went so far as to characterise their storage capabilities as “chaotic” with little if any discernible structure, with some records placed in storage to never be seen again. Alarmingly, 2% of businesses have no structure whatsoever for storing customer communication.
Many companies are deeply concerned about the business impact of their management of paper-based information. Less than a quarter (24 per cent), believe that they have the appropriate access to customer information to provide strong levels of customer management. 49 per cent are afraid of losing valuable historical documents, and a quarter feel unable to implement an approach to information management that embraces information in paper and digital formats.
“A paperless office may be an unrealistic goal for many but a paper-efficient one is achievable,” believes Christian Toon, Head of Information Risk, Iron Mountain Europe. “Companies do and will continue to create, copy and store paper documents – our research shows that only 1% of European businesses have created a paperless environment. We would advise companies not to rush into a digitise-all approach, but to focus on understanding how information is used and then digitising the documents they need to access frequently. Businesses need to shrink the problem and focus resources on their most important documents, such as corporation documents, customer data and business intelligence. The rest of the existing backlog can be stored offsite for an agreed period of time as part of a Corporate Information Responsibility (CIR) programme.”

About Iron Mountain:
Iron Mountain provides information management services that help organisations lower the costs, risks and inefficiencies of managing their physical and digital data. The Company’s solutions enable customers to protect and better use their information—regardless of its format, location or lifecycle stage—so they can optimise their business and ensure proper recovery, compliance and discovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain manages billions of information assets, including business records, electronic files, medical data and more for organisations around the world. Visit www.ironmountain.co.uk for more information.

For further information contact:
Phil Riley
T: +32 (0) 470 901 952
E: priley@emea.ironmountain.com
or
Lauren Wood
T: +44 (0) 118 909 0909
E: im@berkeleypr.co.uk