In the unfortunate event that your business faces an environmental disaster – like a flood, earthquake or hurricane – it is beneficial to have a document restoration leader appointed and trained ahead of time. Office disaster emergencies are all-hands-on-deck situations, and time is of the essence. Recovering wet or damaged documents via proper document restoration methods is often the first priority in order to get business back up and running.
But before a business can reach that point, documents must be carefully gathered, organized, marked and assessed. This requires cooperation between your company and the professional document restoration service. A document restoration leader who has at least some understanding of how the process works and can act as an official liaison to your disaster recovery firm can be an invaluable asset.
There are a few key qualities needed in a document restoration leader, such as:
Team leadership. As the job title suggests, a good candidate for this position must possess excellent people skills and leadership ability. It will preferably be an employee who has been with the company for some time and is familiar with the inner workings of each department. The document restoration leader should also be familiar with the building know where all important documents are stored so he or she can respond quickly in case of flooding or structural damage.
Risk management. A good document restoration leader must also have the ability to make quick decisions under pressure, and to act with company-wide risk management in mind. This entails having a disaster response plan prepared ahead of time, which would include risk avoidance and risk recovery plans. Risk management for document restoration plays an important role in various areas, including document security and document transferring to off-site locations.
Group effort. The document restoration leader may be in charge of leading the group and designing disaster response plans, but document restoration for any business is ultimately a team effort. With thousands of documents to be examined and transferred to safety, an efficient response to a disaster scenario requires a well-prepared team, with members who can work together.
Off-site storage. Immediate disaster response, especially in the case of a flood or fire, requires the quick removal of important documents for restoration. This usually means moving documents to an off-site location where they can be organized and restored. Documents can also be scanned individually off site and converted into digital copies to avoid future document degradation. Be sure your team leader speaks with a document restoration service provider for more info about off-site restoration.
Document security. Finally, a document restoration leader should be highly concerned with protecting the security of both hard copies and digital soft copies. When choosing a document restoration service, a team leader will look for a provider that has an excellent track record and is known for upholding document security standards. If you have documents that are highly sensitive or confidential in nature, the team leader may choose to keep all restoration services on site or nearby, rather than at a remote facility. However, if you go with a trusted document restoration service, the benefits of off-site restoration may outweigh immediate security concerns.
Being a document restoration leader is not an easy job, nor is it a role for everyone. It takes excellent team skills, equanimity and a serious attitude.
[ Photo by: Natural Step Online, via CC License ]
