• Space - CD rom storage is one of the most advanced data compression mediums available - in simple terms the contents of two full sized filing cabinets contain about 20,000 documents which can be stored on a single CD.
  
• Time - individual documents can be retrieved and viewed in a matter of seconds, and the data on each CD is individually addressable.
  
• Transport - large volumes of documents are expensive to ship, particularly internationally, contained on a single CD it can be mailed for the cost of a letter.
  
• Security - CD's can be password protected to prevent unauthorised access.
  
• Availability - once scanned-in text documents are available for Optical Character Recognition and can be included within your word processed document files.
  
• Back up - a spare set of duplicate CD's can be kept off-site ensuring back-up in the event of a major fire, flood or other disaster.
  

Is it Cost Effective?
As a storage and archiving medium CD rom is not expensive, for example a typical single volume project manual of around 400 pages of specification, correspondence, photographs and engineering drawings can be scanned, indexed and stored for as little as £30. Scaling this up an entire four drawer filing cabinet can be stored for around £400.

These costs are only slightly more expensive than microfilm and have the advantages that there is no long term deterioration and you don't need specialised viewing equipment.

So, if you have project files, engineering specifications, manuals, personnel records, accounting or legal documents where you need to compress the data and provide an inexpensive, stable, long term storage medium which is easily accessible, consider CD rom.