As a document management system provider, with warehouses and our own system for storage, when we reach out to large companies that have their own document management system, it can often seem as if we’re trying to poach a department’s role from a big company. This is occasionally the case with law firms, especially the bigger ones. The really big law firms have an obvious need for keeping their records easily and quickly accessible. Some of them find that this need is satisfied by the truly professional, efficiently-managed document storage providers, like the Filing Room. Other law firms do their document storage and management in-house, choosing to keep everything nearby and all under the organisation of the same system. We completely understand why; what we want to change is the impression that we, as third-party document management professionals, are in competition with a company’s in-house document management team. Optimising document

In modern Kenya's fast-paced business environment, maintaining an organized and efficient registry management system is essential for the success of any organization. With the ever-increasing volume of data generated daily, managing records manually can be overwhelming. Records management is absolutely essential to the well-running of any business, at any size or stage of its maturity. Without the appropriate storage of, and timely access to, a company’s records, many things can go wrong for a business. Deals can be lost, client files can be mislaid, time can be wasted. An inefficient records management system also opens up a business to potential litigation or regulatory issues. If KRA wants a document now, late delivery is almost, if not as, bad as that record being lost. As a result, many businesses look to third-party records management companies to store and organise their records. (If you want to read more about the dangers of

According to Africa News, Kenya is eyeing a complete re-opening of the country this December. After nearly two years of Coronavirus-enforced disruption, the Kenyan government is looking to revitalise the economy through the easing of restrictions. It is still unclear how much of a relaxation we can expect to see within Kenya. However, considering how the economy shrank by 0.2% in 2020, government officials must be anxious to get back to running things as normal This announcement, reported on by the online broadcaster, comes off the back of a variety of different news pieces that suggest at a reshaping of the Kenyan economy. Earlier in 2021, many East African news outlets also reported on a perceived evolution to Kenya’s relationship with Tanzania. The Presidents of East Africa’s largest economies met in May and are reported to have discussed a strengthening of the business ties between the two countries. What’s more,

A business’ records are its lifeblood. Every document, every paper record, is a mark of a business’ interactions with partners, customers and other affiliates. Without the documents, and their effective management systems, the business all but fails to exist. A large part of these documents are comprised of receipts and invoices, contracts and other records of deals conducted. These are incredibly important documents that obviously require effective management and safe-keeping. But there are other documents, records of correspondence between a business and its clients, that, despite being of arguably less important than contracts or invoices, are constantly in review and the process of being updated. If a business’ records are the story of its existence, correspondence records are the history of a business’ interaction with each client. And, without clients, a business really would be nothing. Business correspondence requires proper management. If a business has to deal with deadlines –

The Kenyan legal sector is described by The Legal 500 – a law firm ranking website – as having reached a stage of maturation. That is to say that, today, Kenya’s legal sector has moved on  from its initialising stages. The sector here in Kenya still attracts a variety of international players. Bowmans, Dentons Hamilton Harrison & Mathews, ENSafrica and CMS Daly Inamdar Advocates are a few such firms. But it also has a growing local presence. Kenyan firms include Anjarwalla & Khanna – founding member of the Africa Legal Network –, Asafo & Co., and ENSafrica’s Nairobi office. These local legal professionals are more and more often trained in Kenya and, having left international practices, are setting up their own, uniquely Kenyan firms in this country. Of course, as the country develops economically, greater will be the need for an established and capable legal sector. And as that legal

Keeping and maintaining the records that are important to your business is crucial to the running, and survival, of your company. An effective business manager must make records management part of their responsibility. If an important document goes missing, it can cause delays. It can invite tension into the workplace or block important deals. It can even result in lawsuits being levelled at the company. But an intelligently-contrived records management system does not just keep and maintain documents, it also considers when they must be destroyed. The reason why is that there are potential dangers to keeping too many documents. Especially if your document management system is not discerning when it comes to what is stored. The dangers of keeping too many records: As data protection and the rights to data privacy are considered and developed worldwide, new laws are being passed that will drastically effect records management. Here in

The human resources department of a company is incredible important. It is charged with ensuring that this important resource – the workforce – operates to the best of its ability. Without the effective well-running of the human resources department, some of the most important actions within the company can suffer. The HR department controls what sort of personnel make up the company. It is the human resources department that controls hiring and firing. But, of course, every company process creates a paper trail. And human resources, by nature of what it works with – people -, creates a longer one than many other departments. As a result, human resources departments that do not have an effective records management system can often become bogged down. This can cause incredible inefficiency within this department. And, if a company’s workforce is not working effectively, the whole company isn’t. As a result, document management,

In many companies, every employee will play, at the least, a small part in the document management system. Document management operates at a great variety of different levels. Most obviously, it includes filing correspondence, policies and contract documents, and managing these records' lifespan and organisational system. But document management can also include the organisation of your email correspondence, the maintenance of notes taken from meetings, or taking a note of a potentially important (for your business) phone call. Any article of writing is a records. Though not all of these records will, at first glance, seem to be important enough for keeping, they might prove to be. In business, you never know what notation or piece of documentation will be important for your company. Document management can involve simple tasks like filing what might be necessary and destroying notes that are definitely no longer needed. But document management can also

Every business is different. Some businesses have Operations Managers who are like the glue that keeps the organisation together. They have roles that span the full spectrum of the organisation’s functions and are frequently tasked with some of the more logistical tasks – such as file storage. Or perhaps you are an Office Manager: similar to the Operations Manager but with a role specific to the workplace. It’s your job to make sure the office is a comfortable environment for everyone to work, live and cooperate. Or maybe you are in charge of logistics and the clutter building up from in-house storage methods is beginning to get in the way of the logistical efficiency of the organisation. Whatever job title you have, and regardless of the roles and responsibilities in the organisational structure, it is somebody’s job to make sure the company’s records are in order. Legally, would my business

File and document management in Kenya: - Recently, we published an article demonstrating our thorough understanding of what the banking industry expects of its third-party document management partners. If you would like to read that article, you can access it here. In that previous paper, we presented the lessons we have learnt as records managers for the banking sector. The various banks that comprise this major sector of Kenya’s industry are some of our largest clients. Kenya’s economy grows at a rate that far exceeds many of our neighbouring countries here in East Africa. Much of that economic growth is fuelled by the loans provided by Kenya’s banks. The activity of these banks produces a huge amount of paperwork. We, at the Filing Room, have been storing and managing this paperwork for the last 25 years. The insurance industry is just as important to the continued growth of Kenya’s economy.