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Главная / English version
Articles A paper Klondike trove for smart logisticians.
Yelin V. A, the Chairman of board of directors of Joint-Stock Company "Smart Logistic Group" (www.slg.ru), Cand.Tech.Sci.
When the world's economy was still in the midst of the global financial crisis, we were paid a visit by an employee of EURASIA LOGISTICS, Russia's largest developer and the owner of "Severnoe Domodedovo" ILC, who came with an offer to work with not a very agile but still a highly respected storage customer. Having only half of our "A" category warehouse occupied at the time, we decided to give it a go. It was only when the negotiations started that we found out that storage customer was - IRON MOUNTAIN, the world leader in providing storage solutions. This company's countless warehouses are the home to 7.5 million cubic meters of precious documents and data from around the world. Its operating system handles 72 million storage transactions from more than 100,000 of the company's client businesses annually. However, we are no dummies here either and decided to seize the bull by its horns and have a go at this novel to us business of information storage.
Obviously, there is a huge difference between viewing a business from the sidelines and being involved in it up to one's gills. It took us one and a half years of complete dedication to explore every nook and cranny of its structure. At first, it struck us as being very straightforward. After all, what is so sophisticated about storing things? Nothing can be easier: you take a standard size box, preferably with a logo on it, identify it with a barcode sticker and fill it up with a dozen of "CRONA"-type folders containing all kinds of documents. That's it, you almost have a complete single unit of storage ready. Next, you stack a few dozens of such boxes on a pallet, secure the stack with a stretch film and - you are a pro. Hey, not so fast, never believe in first impressions. The storage business, as it turned out, is full of nuances: the storage structure with its own accounting system, data base formation approaches, to name but a few. Safety of the stored information and its transfer from a customer to the keeper and back is one of the business's top priorities. So is the access hierarchy. The total and absolute control over the information at all stages of the transfer chain that begins with a customer and goes all the way trough a forwarder, recorder, and storekeeper to a cell at a computerized warehouse with its own video monitoring and access systems. And all of that is just the tip of the highly intelligent and highly sophisticated iceberg of data storage and management that can be seen with a naked eye. In modern Russia, potential customers store data in their work offices, banks, government organizations and business parks. Even at the time of crisis, the rent prices for these facilities were anything but low: from $500 to $1000 per 1 sq. meter a year, plus operational and maintenance costs, expensive security and qualified storage personnel. Incidentally, the room height of most of the facilities used for storage is 3-3.2 m at the very best, meaning that storage efficiency of an "A" category warehouse with a room height of 12 m is many times higher than that of office storage. Now, if we translate all these ideas into easily understandable mathematical equations, it will become clear that the cost of storing one pallet of paper records is 15 times lower in an "A" category warehouse than the cost of storing the same pallet in an office located within Moscow's third transport ring or in any Russian city with a population over one million.
Some may question the ability of a logistics operator to derive any benefit from such immovable and low-turnover items. Well, see for yourself. Firstly, the owners of the biggest data volumes in the country are also the top players in the Russian business league. Kind of "blue chips" in the portfolio of a logistics operator. Wealthy and reliable payers of his company bills. Secondly, stored data is not a perishable type of commodity and not the one vulnerable to financial or political upheaval. Once you get yourself involved in the storage business, you are guaranteed to always have cash in your pockets as long as you have a sound logistics structure. Thirdly, contrary to Bill Gates's assertion that the 21st century will be the century free of paper, the regulatory authorities of every country, i.e. tax and customs authorities along with the judiciary and prosecution, still desire to see a physical evidence of our business activities rather than virtual one; that is the good old-fashioned paper records.
So, can anyone who has read the above honestly say that this is not a paper Klondike1 trove?
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