Do you really need all the paper files you’ve got squirreled away in your small business or could some of this material be converted to a digital format?

By Veselina Dzhingarova

For small businesses, dealing with storage of all kinds is a bit of a challenge. Not every business has a warehouse or can find a convenient location out of the way in the office that won’t become a tripping hazard before too long. Space-challenged operations have to manage their storage needs carefully to optimize for space and keep costs from getting out of control.

Here are a few suggestions about better storage for SMEs.

Pack ‘em and stack ‘em

The ability to stack filled boxes several levels high is useful to make best use of physical space. Using Gruberpallets.com, a family-owned provider of hardwood and softwood pallets for decades, you can store goods or storage boxes out of the way.

Pallets are designed to be lifted by forklift trucks and come with the slots beneath each pallet especially for this purpose. When not in use, the pallets themselves stack up one on top of the other, neatly positioned away from sight until they’re needed. They’re inexpensive and immediately make heavy, irregular-sized boxes transportable with the right equipment.

[amazon_link asins=’B073VCPJVF’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingin-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’be18fd25-5477-11e8-8fa6-b92f4ddfcf3d’]Business self storage

Another option for SMEs that have smaller offices bursting to the brim with stuff is to sift through what’s immediately needed and then store offsite other items that are not frequently needed. Specially designed business warehousing for companies provides easy access day or night and, on the weekends, too. Full access to wheel in filing cabinets on trolleys and place other office furniture until it’s needed is one possible use. Business storage facilities are quite useful for companies that don’t wish to dispose of the items but aren’t ready to find a large office yet either.

The cost of business self-storage is cheaper than having to move offices lock stock and barrel. When you think about the distraction for an employee looking for new premises, the costs of relocating, and the business disruption involved, finding nearby temporary storage option is far more cost-effective.

Convert paper files to digital records

Companies that realize they haven’t gotten out of the habit of using paper files would do well to cull most of their paper and reduce the number of filing cabinets in the office. It frees up a member of staff spending part of their day doing the filing and clears important floor space.

[amazon_link asins=’B07661K8ZG’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingin-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d1da836f-5477-11e8-9afb-11a6733109d0′]Scan the documents or even use a digital camera to take a digital snapshot of them. Organize the records to make them easy to find later. Then locate a respected business cloud storage provider to upload the files for online storage. The records can be password protected, given different access levels for management to restrict access, and data encrypted to protect them from prying eyes too.

Sooner or later, nearly all SMEs must deal with the challenge of finding adequate places for storage. The floor plan of an office and limited places for furniture and old files restrict the options for businesses needing to secure important items in a safe place. However, happily, other businesses have responded to this need providing various storage options that solve this problem.

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Veselina Dzhingarova is cofounder of MonetaryLibrary and writer at Blogforweb.