As any Facilities Manager worth their salt will know, having an efficient storage protocol for files is critical for the smooth running of any proficient law firm.
In today’s technology-led world, more law firms are making the transition from holding physical copies of their confidential files to scanning and storing them digitally.
At Altlaw we like to say ‘less paper, less risk’, but for some law firms, this has been a hard lesson to learn.
Read on to view our case study highlighting some of the issues that have arisen from storing physical copies of files and how our team had to help rectify the situation.
The Job
Our specialist scanning team were invited by a Facilities Manager of a London law firm to take a look at a large quantity of physical files that needed scanning with some urgency.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by a daunting site- a flooded basement.
Burst water pipes had soaked a total of 50 files which were now permanently damaged, and desperately needed to be stored electronically.
Dehumidifiers, pumps and mops were all used to try and dry the confidential files and save a large number of archived files which were in various states of disrepair.
Once we had files on-site in a much drier environment, even after a week of warm air the pages were not sufficiently dry to put through our scanners.
The solution
Fortunately, the dilemma was solved by a trip to Argos.
Armed with a selection of hair dryers, our scanning team set about painstakingly separating each page, while asking each other if they’d been anywhere nice for their holidays?
It took a great deal of time and effort but we managed to deliver back a USB containing legible images to be uploaded into the client’s DMS.
Needless to say, the client has changed their storage protocol and now have their files scanned and stored as a matter of course.
Less paper, less risk!
If you need archive scanning, large or small, contact our specialist scanning team at Altlaw on 020 7490 1646.
