Legal

ArchivesOne Offers Necessary Evidence for the Solution

When the Margolis Law Firm moved to its new offices in Roseland, New Jersey, the firm found itself without an on-site storage area for some 10,000 Redwell legal files and had to store off site for the first time in its history. "The storage area we needed just wasn't there," said Director of Administration Deborah Margolis, "And we had to find a solution before our move.

"In our old facility, the files had been stored on open shelves in sequential order. There were some files dating back 15 to 20 years, and each file is between one and seven inches thick. More importantly, we just didn't have the time to box the files before the move."

"Ms. Margolis contacted us on September 10th, and the turnaround on the contract and the work was very quick," said Derrick Vaniskhian, ArchivesOne Director of Sales for Metro NJ/NY. "There was no honeymoon period on this project and from our start date of September 17th until we finished picking up boxes and cataloging them at one of our Newark warehouses, it took us about six weeks."

Ms. Margolis and ArchivesOne collaborated on a rapid and efficient solution that worked for both parties. Margolis purchased the necessary boxes - some 2,000 of them -- and her administrative staff simply placed the files in the boxes. The storage company would handle all the actual organizing and coding.

To accomplish the monumental task efficiently, ArchivesOne made five individual pick-ups of some 350 boxes each, according to Mr. Vaniskhian. "Once a shipment of boxes arrived at our Newark facility, two of our associates created an easy identification and bar-coding system for each of the Redwell files, which took about two days," he said.

When the whole project was completed and 1,800 boxes were on shelves in our warehouse - nearly three weeks ahead of schedule - the ArchivesOne team had logged in some 150 man hours. Today, the number of stored boxes has climbed to more than 2,000, since Margolis regularly calls for a pick-up whenever a case is finished.

"ArchivesOne provided us not only expandable space to store closed files, but also the peace of mind that our records are secure, protected from water and mold," Ms. Margolis said. "Most importantly, our files are always accessible."

Box retrieval and the delivery process work smoothly and easily. Following a quick call to the ArchivesOne Newark Customer Center, the staff member pulls the box or boxes and the driver, who is already on a first-name basis with associates at the Margolis firm, delivers the records the following day.

"Occasionally, when Margolis needs the file sooner, we've delivered within hours," Mr. Vaniskhian said. "In one instance, ArchivesOne had to bring more than 25 boxes which were part of the same case."

For the Margolis Law firm, the change to off-site storage wasn't just about extra storage space, it was about productivity. "Prior to working with ArchivesOne, members of our administrative staff or associates had to go down to the basement storage area to retrieve files".

Ms. Margolis commented on the personal relationship the firm has developed with its sales representative. "He bends over backwards to help us," she said. "And he is available to answer questions or explain processes and costs."

Ms. Margolis continued, "ArchivesOne has remained customer-driven and dependable. I'm convinced that off-site storage was the only way to increase our efficiency and enable our staff to focus on the business at hand - practicing law."