Documents-storage, data company plans expansion with Reno facility

Helping businesses save money can be a profitable business itself, especially in tough times. Just ask Offsite Data Depot.  

 The Carson City-based records storage and information management solutions provider is on track to double its revenue this year and plans to expand into a second facility in Reno and add several more employees to its four-person staff. 

The company offers document shredding, document scanning, online backup and email filtering. But the bulk of its work is in storing records for business, government agencies, even individuals, using barcode technology to track stored records and give customers quick access to them. 

“Typically, every business has to keep records for compliance and regulation, but they don’t have space internally,” says Gerd Poppinga, director of operations at Offsite. “We’re cheaper than other options of storage. We can store for merely pennies as opposed to dollars. Back when things were hunky-dory, businesses used to do everything themselves and now they’re realizing it can be more efficient and cut costs to have us do it.” 

Most of Offsite’s customers, such as the Nevada Supreme Court and CPA firm Casey, Neilon & Associates, are located near Offsite’s 30,000-square-foot warehouse in the state capital.
But Offsite is signing up more customers in Reno, including the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, which says Offsite is saving the company $6,000 a month in storage costs. 

So Offsite has its eye on adding about 100,000 square feet of warehouse space in Reno in a newer, concrete or steel fire-safe facility with docks and climate-control vaults designed for document and media storage. At the same time, says Poppinga, the company will need to add general office staff, warehouse personnel and document scanning workers since the scanning side of the business is picking up. 

Offsite also hopes to broaden its customer base to include individuals and organizations with sophisticated storage needs. The company, for example, is now talking to the Washoe Tribe in Reno about storing some of its artifacts. “Lots of people think of safety deposit box in a bank,” says Poppinga. “But that limits them to bank hours. With us, they have access 24 by 7.” 

By Anne Knowles,  
11/12/2012 NNBW 

Best Practices for Disaster Preparedness

Offsite Data Depot, a leader in document storage, secure document destruction, digital document management and data protection, shares best practices for disaster preparedness and records information management. With the recent and early occurrence of tornadoes nationwide and expected disruption to businesses, Offsite offers a six-step process to assist companies of all sizes to better protect documents and critical data. Offsite is a leader in managing critical records for businesses in and around northern Nevada. 

Disasters typically leave organizations little or no time to secure documents, so it is mission critical to create a RIM (records information management) plan and integrate strategies that proactively enforce it. Fires, wind storms, floods and earthquakes are enemies of physical documents. Even a frozen water pipe is a potential disaster from a document security standpoint. Offsite encourages businesses to create, practice and enforce a disaster preparedness plan in advance to maintain the integrity of critical documents and maintain compliance.

Through more than a decade of experience securing critical business documents for organizations, Offsite developed a straightforward set of best practices to safeguard against even the most extreme disasters and minimize the risk of service discontinuation. Offsite recommends that businesses initiate the following strategies before a natural disaster strikes:  

• Collect and store critical documents and computer backup tapes in a secure off-site location. If a secure off-site location is not available, create an infrastructure that will best protect documents on-site from natural elements and unauthorized personnel.
• Create and communicate a RIM plan, detailing the past and current life-cycle status of documents needed to support critical business functions and locations across all departments and functional areas.
• Identify the organizational/functional areas that play a part in the secure document life-cycle in times of emergency, such as critical departments, procedures, resources, vendors and alternate sources for supplies.
• Perform full risk assessments of physical security of critical documents, facility safety and personnel accessing original documents.
• Conduct annual document audits and disaster retrieval reenactments
• Consult a local records management company for services and information on how to get started.

Additionally, lost or damaged documents can place organizations outside of strict compliance regulations, such as HIPAA, HITECH, FACTA and Sarbanes-Oxley, which require the retention of volumes of records. 

Whether files are stored on-site or off-site, and regardless of format, all departments must clearly know what records are most important, where they are retained and how to access them. An implemented, clearly communicated and strictly enforced strategy will greatly strengthen the facilitation of business continuity during times of emergency.

 

Secure Document Shredding of On-Site or Off-Site Materials

Security threats to your company’s information exist throughout the life-time of a document.  Offsite can protect your company’s records at the end of this cycle, with Offsite’s Secure Document Shredding. Secure Shredding & Destruction Services Bin Rotation- Many Nevada companies need a Destruction Bin Rotation, or Scheduled Destruction to insure their information is destroyed on a consistent automated basis.  Offsite will place a bin or console of various sizes in your offices.  It is locked and secured.  On a schedule you define a bonded Offsite Destruction Team member will come to your offices and empty the confidential materials within.  The information is then taken off-site to our secured facility in one of our secure vehicles.  It is then shredded and pulped into new environmentally friendly papers and products.  Various size destruction bins are available to meet your needs.  Schedules can be established and adjusted according to your specifications.  This bin rotation ensures that documents go right into a secure document destruction receptacle.  Scheduled destruction should be a key element in every records management plan as it is an essential step in risk or identity theft avoidance.  Contact an Offsite representative to start your service today and secure your companies information.