Expanding Business Keeps Records Safe

For Immediate Release   -   June 4, 2011

GREENVILLE, NC - Moving Confidential Records Management Inc. into its new Greenville location in the former Robert Bosch Tool plant has given it space to expand, the company's owner said.

The company provides records management services from document imaging, creating digital copies with online access, to the storage and archiving of documents, ranging from records to microfilm and microfiche to tapes and disks. The company also destroys unneeded media.

Gail Bisbee of New Bern, who started the business more than 15 years ago, travels internationally to sell her document imaging software and provide training. The new site will make expanded on-site classes possible.

A former nurse, Bisbee said her customers include medical facilities, along with government clients, mostly located in North Carolina.

Besides providing plenty of shelf space for boxes containing document hard copies, the warehouse area also will be outfitted with “hot” sites for people who need to rent space if their regular workplaces aren't available due to natural disasters or other emergencies.

“They literally can come here and be operational,” Bisbee said.

A climate-controlled book depository will supply another new service, allowing clients to store books, collectibles and sensitive documents. The building also is equipped with security features including 24-hour surveillance.

During a late-May tour of the facility at 310 Staton Road, Bisbee pointed to a room set aside for renovation into a large-scale vault. It will be equipped with a high fire-protection rating and a fire suppression system.

“It’s the highest level of security of anything east of Interstate 95,” Bisbee said. “This big building and this vault gives us the capability to expand the electronic data services.”

She said despite the cavernous size of the Greenville site, she plans to keep her other locations in Rocky Mount and New Bern open.

While there’s an increasing demand for electronic documents, the document management field remains healthy due to retention requirements and the need for managing documents, she said. It’s rare for a company to keep all its documents in an electronic format unless the business was recently formed, Bisbee said.

The company is continuing to grow, which Bisbee attributes to her efforts to stay ahead of the curve.

She’s hired three more people, and has plans to add 14 jobs in the next two years. Her son, Will Russ, is the business development manager.

A bank loan helped finance the $1.7 million purchase price of the building that had been sitting vacant for more than three years. Renovating and outfitting the newly energy-efficient 137,127-square-foot facility is expected to cost about $845,000.

John Wood, the company’s vice president of operations, said some of the renovation costs were offset by old-fashioned bartering for copper wiring left behind by Bosch.

“We used the value of the copper to fund the demolition and uplifting,” he said. “We stuck with local vendors as much as possible. We wanted to keep business in the Greenville area.

“Bisbee said she took possession of the property on Dec. 15. It needed extensive work, and visitors were flummoxed by her enthusiasm for the old industrial building in Greenville Industrial Park.

“People looked at me like ‘She has gone absolutely bonkers,’” she said. “And I just looked around and said, ‘It's not what it is — it’s what it can become.’”

She said work has included fresh paint and new flooring.

She found support for her dream from Pitt County. The application before commissioners listed a handful of current employees for the site but showed that 14 more jobs would be added. The county applied on her behalf for a Building Reuse and Restoration Grants Program through the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center Inc.

The Pitt County Development Commission is the agency charged with administering the $168,000 grant, which requires a matching dollar-for-dollar investment.

Wanda Yuhas, the commission’s executive director, said the grant will be paid to Confidential Records Management once the retrofit has been completed and the anticipated jobs created.

Melody Adams, director of the state’s grant program, said Bisbee’s application pledged a private investment and new jobs within two years with an average annual salary of $31,000.

“Projects are eligible when they are targeting a vacant building in one of our 85 rural counties in North Carolina, and have the capacity to renovate the property and move in and create new jobs in North Carolina,” she said. “By being able to reinvest into these properties, it helps to improve the overall building stock across North Carolina.”

Information on Confidential Records Management is available at the company's website at www.crmi-online.com.