Store your business’ essential documents securely offsite to save space and ensure compliance.
Protect your business’s digital media in a secure, climate-controlled vault.
Preserve the safety and integrity of biological samples, pathology slides, and critical medical materials with secure, climate-controlled storage.
Optimize storage for pallets and bulk items with secure, scalable solutions ideal for growing businesses.
Secure your essential records like wills, evidence, trusts, and legal documents in our vault.
Easily manage and track your inventory online with Corodata’s secure and user-friendly Client Portal.
Need storage boxes? Order Corodata’s durable, secure boxes online in just a few clicks. Keep your records organized and protected.
Access your physical documents digitally with Corodata’s Scan on Demand service. Deliver secure, on-request scans directly to your device.
Digitize large quantities of documents efficiently with Corodata’s High Volume Scanning. Ensure quick, secure, and accurate conversion to digital files.
Securely access your digital and scanned documents anytime from your desktop, tablet, or phone with CoroVault.
Keep your business compliant and secure with our NAID-certified paper shredding services.
Securely dispose of IT assets with secure data destruction and responsible recycling.
Prevent data breaches with certified hard drive destruction, fully wiping data and ensuring compliance.
Host a shred event to provide secure shredding services to your community at a central location with our mobile shred truck.
We offer a range of secure, locked shred bins and consoles designed to safely store confidential documents and files. Explore our available options today!
Stay informed with the latest records management tips, industry news, and expert insights.
Unlock free exclusive ebooks, templates, and checklists to streamline your business operations.
Access free on-demand webinars to master Corodata’s client portal.
This guide reveals exactly which business records to keep and for how long.
Safeguard your business operations and speed up recovery during a crisis by completing this disaster recovery plan.
Easily maintain HIPAA compliance with our comprehensive checklist.
Since 1948, we have delivered secure records management solutions to help businesses confidently protect and manage their information.
Choosing the right commercial storage partner affects more than just your available space. It impacts compliance, resilience, and long-term operational efficiency for your business.
A trusted storage partner becomes an extension of your operations, managing sensitive files, backup media, and inventory with security and care. But the wrong choice can expose your business to compliance violations, data breaches, and costly downtime — making this one of the most important decisions for your organization.
Below, we’ll walk through the key steps to finding the ideal commercial storage partner for your business.
Most companies evaluate commercial storage services solely on cost and location. They overlook compliance risk, downtime, and vendor resilience. This narrow focus can lead to expensive mistakes, including the loss of business and reputational damage.
Start by defining what you need to store. Are these hard-copy records, backup tapes, or warehoused inventory?
Each type requires specific handling and compliance measures:
Security and compliance can directly impact your bottom line. For example, a storage employee leaking patient information could cost a hospital up to $50,000 per HIPAA violation — not including legal fees or reputational harm.
Environmental conditions also matter more than most realize. Paper records deteriorate in humid conditions, while electronics fail in extreme temperatures. Pharmaceuticals risk losing potency without proper climate control. When storage partners can’t store assets properly, the losses can be tremendous.
Finally, think about value-added services such as:
Identifying these needs upfront prevents wasted time and hidden costs.
When evaluating potential partners, consider the provider’s experience handling assets in your industry, as this helps ensure you remain compliant with relevant regulations. For instance, a storage provider familiar with legal compliance understands chain-of-custody requirements. One experienced in healthcare understands HIPAA compliance regulations for storing patient data.
Reputation is another crucial factor to consider. Online reviews and ratings on platforms such as Google Business Profile offer insights into others’ experiences with a particular company. They serve as indicators of potential partners’ reliability and trustworthiness.
Media coverage, social media mentions, industry awards and recognitions, and industry-specific forums can also shed light on what to expect from a specific company.
Whether you are in manufacturing, retail, healthcare, legal, finance, or any other industry, ask your commercial storage partner about how they handle business assets in your particular niche. This reduces the risk of hiring an inexperienced and non-compliant provider.
Location directly impacts your operational efficiency and costs. Proximity to business hubs also reduces transportation expenses and improves retrieval speed. For example, a storage facility 20 miles closer to a port could reduce delivery times by hours.
Ask yourself:
When evaluating potential partners, choose the one with comprehensive security measures to protect your business from potential theft and damage.
Physical facility evaluation can reveal operational quality and reliability. This is why you should schedule site visits to every shortlisted provider. It will allow you to understand their daily operations and examine the building’s structural integrity and maintenance standards first-hand.
For instance, cracked foundations may lead to water damage, rusted HVAC systems may fail during high-use seasons, and overflowing dumpsters indicate poor facility management. Storing business assets in such facilities can feel like quicksand, since you never know what to expect or even whether they are safe.
Even with the best protection in place, however, incidents can occur. In these cases, insurance coverage offers compensation. That’s why you should verify that the provider has comprehensive liability insurance that covers your stored assets. Review policy limits against your inventory value and understand what situations activate coverage.
Storage facilities should provide:
Ask about the company’s disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Do they have backup systems to protect climate-controlled environments? Where do they relocate your materials during facility emergencies?
Finally, licensing and certifications indicate your provider’s professional standards as well as regulatory compliance. Make sure you ask for industry-specific accreditations, such as National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) certification, for secure document and records storage solutions.
Don’t just compare basic rental rates when looking for storage solutions. Calculate total monthly expenses, including insurance requirements and service charges, and project annual costs for expected retrieval frequency and seasonal fluctuations. Once you understand the cost of commercial storage solutions, you can plan ahead and know how much you’ll spend. This helps you avoid surprises.
Review the contract terms to determine the types of agreements each potential partner offers. If your storage needs aren’t long-term, a month-to-month agreement may be your go-to option. For long-term storage commitments, annual contracts are the way to go. Annual contracts are usually cheaper than monthly agreements and are ideal for businesses with large storage needs. However, if you need a limited-time contract, such as a one-year contract, let your storage partner know in advance, since some contracts include automatic renewal clauses.
Use this brief comparison table to vet providers and compare the cost of their services:
Vetting Parameter
What To Ask
Why It Matters
Value-added services
Do you offer packing, shipping, scanning, and shredding?
Adds efficiency and convenience
Transparent pricing
Are minimums, surcharges, or hidden fees listed?
Hidden costs add up
Contract terms
What is the term length and exit cost?
Gives you flexibility and control
Reliable customer service means faster response times and fewer surprises. In commercial storage services, proactive communication sets apart exceptional storage partners from mediocre ones. For instance, an efficient provider will notify you about upcoming or late payments, or if a traffic snarl-up will delay the delivery of your documents.
A reliable partner should also make services easy to use across various channels.
When choosing a commercial storage partner, also consider if and how they communicate during emergencies. How quickly can a provider notify you about facility problems? Are they transparent about security incidents? Keeping you up to speed on what is happening, especially during emergencies, helps you plan and avoid disruptions to your operations.
Here’s a brief reference checklist to help you evaluate and compare potential storage partners:
Business storage partner evaluation criteria require thorough attention. Your business depends on making wise choices, so take time to evaluate your options.
Let us show you how the right storage partner can change your business operations while reducing data security risks. Contact us today for a free tour of our warehouse and receive a free quote.
If your records storage strategy is costing you time and money, our Commercial Storage Needs Assessment Checklist will help you evaluate your current practices and identify areas for improvement.