Why companies outsource archives
Companies must retain documents for years under rules that vary by document type, and the physical result fills rooms that could be productive space. They also have to retrieve specific documents for audits and disputes within days. Outsourcing is obvious in principle and rarely priced, because providers describe archiving services without stating cost per unit of storage or what retrieval involves.
What we build for a document service
First, capability separated into archiving, digitisation and destruction, since companies arrive needing one of the three. Second, retention compliance addressed by document type, which is the legal obligation driving the purchase. Third, pricing per volume with retrieval terms, because the comparison against keeping a room is arithmetic the client can only do with numbers. Fourth, a client portal for search and retrieval requests, plus security and access controls, which is what makes an outsourced archive better than the room it replaced.