Are you responsible for storing or arranging the storage of your business's historical data? It may seem a dry task, but data storage and retention is incredibly important for many reasons. Business data can provide valuable insights into future opportunities, growth projections, and growth strategizing for your enterprise —so much so that the past can shape the future in many ways.
Whether you’re a business owner, an ICT technician or data analyst, or an administrative specialist who’s looking to strengthen their understanding of electronic record-keeping, this helpful article will share the top proven methods for storing historical business data for enterprises of all scopes and sizes, so read on to learn more.
PDF formatting is the most common and useful way to view, store and transfer documents. The universality of PDF files makes them one of most popular methods for storing business data. Considering that it’s also possible to easily compress PDF files to further minimize storage space requirements, storing business data records in PDF format is a highly viable solution for enterprises looking to scale up fast, or even businesses with growing data management needs and plenty of historical data that they may require on-hand but are unlikely to consult on a routine basis.
If you don’t need your business data stored ‘on-site’ so to speak, then the cost benefits and convenience of cloud storage is sure to appeal to your enterprise. Cloud storage is a term used for online data storage that is hosted on remote servers throughout the world. The idea is that your files are uploaded "to the cloud" and are available for download at any point that you need to access them.
There are many cloud storage providers, so you shouldn't have trouble selecting a provider. From there, you can migrate your historical business data to the cloud, and rest assured in the knowledge that it is safe and secure online. Most cloud storage providers will also encrypt your data with best practice standards encryption so it is safe and secure, which is essential for historical business data.
Investing in third-party cloud storage solutions is also typically far less costly than investing in data servers for on-site data storage. However, the added security control of on-site storage could be appealing to larger or multinational corporations who have the funds to invest in independently operated data servers.
For small businesses that might not have the budget for cloud storage but still have only modest historical data storage requirements, investing in a physical hard drive might be the best way to store your business data. All you have to do is to transfer your historical business data onto the hard drive, and store the drive in a dry, cool and secure place. A storage room or cupboard might be the best place for your company’s data drives.
It’s worth mentioning, however, that hard drives can crash due to physical damage (if dropped or dinged) or if they’re exposed to moisture and other corrosive elements. Given the delicate storage and handling requirements of hard disk drives, this option may not be the safest way to store your data, but it’s definitely a cheaper method when compared to cloud storage. If you have additional budget for your data storage requirements, you may even consider opting for solid state storage over traditional hard drives. Keep in mind, however, that you can expect to receive a reduced storage capacity in SSDs and HDDs within the same price range, with SSDs typically more expensive due to their improved durability and intricate technical components.
For historical business data in hard copy formats, such as forms, letters, invoices and other paper files, a secure document storage facility is likely to be your best storage solution. There are a range of different companies that usually offer both secure document storage and destruction. A company like this can arrange to collect the boxes of data from your office, warehouse or other business premises and transport it safely to their facility, where they will store it for you for a monthly or annual fee.
Once there, you can access your historical data whenever you need to, such as when you want to review the documents around tax time. And if there are data sets you no longer require, you can arrange for their destruction after a certain time period has elapsed, as not all historical business documents need to be kept in perpetuity.
It’s also worth mentioning that you might want to group together certain types of historical business data in a method that makes sense to you and allows for easy retrieval and perusal. As a general rule of thumb and no matter the storage method – digital, cloud, physical or hard drive – you should group different types of data together.
For instance, all the invoices should be stored together separately, and all the sales data, bank statements, bills, and other groups of data should be stored in a filing system that makes sense, is easy to sort, and is easy to browse should the need arise.
Finally, it’s advised that under no circumstances whatsoever should historical business data be stored on staff computers, be it a personal or work computer. While this may seem like an easy way to store historical business data, it is, in fact, a recipe for disaster. All it takes is a spilled glass of water, a dropped device, or a nasty virus or trojan horse, and that data is either gone forever or compromised.
Businesses should also always back up historical business data using one of the above-mentioned methods to ensure that the data is safe, secure and available for the business should the need arise. Make sure that you communicate this to key staff who are responsible for archiving and storing historical business data.
With these top methods for storing historical business data outlined, all that’s now left for you to do is determine which storage model is the most suitable fit for your enterprise, whether it be digital storage, cloud storage, hard copy secure storage, hard drives or SSDs, or a dynamic combination of the methods we’ve shared today.