The scene is common in Brazilian companies: as the business grows and technology evolves, old documents, equipment and objects fall out of use. They end up thrown away without much thought, or land in a corporate "junk room", where they are forgotten for months and, more commonly, for many years.
In a company's day-to-day routine, it is not always easy to see value in things that are obsolete or have no immediate use. And in today's reality of increasingly compact offices, the pragmatic need to free up physical space asserts itself daily. So the dilemma remains: is it worth keeping this material? And what should be done with it?
Care for institutional memory is still uncommon in Brazil. But companies that have taken the trouble to professionally manage their collections know they can draw on their history to enhance their work in the present. In this way, they can project their evolution into the future within a clear identity and a coherent narrative. History also becomes a communication asset.
According to the survey "A História e a Memória Empresarial nas Organizações no Brasil", conducted by Aberje in 2021, companies that invest in Institutional Memory projects in Brazil list these reasons for doing so:
- 48% bet on preserving corporate identity and institutional coherence
- 43% believe institutional memory is a catalyst in supporting the business and an element of cohesion between social responsibility and history.
- 38% cite fostering employees' sense of belonging and pride.
- 33% point to transforming the company's experience into knowledge available to society.
In other words, preserving the company's history can mean business opportunities.
What to do with the corporate collection?
Throwing it away is definitely a terrible idea, even though the space problem is also very real. That is why private art storage facilities are an option.
Clé Chenue do Brasil works with the specialized storage of objects and works of art, and is the only facility in Brazil with fully climate-controlled warehouses equipped with fire security and human monitoring around the clock.
From a small area in a shared space for storing a few boxes to an entire room for exclusive use, from 25m² to 600m², there are countless solutions available for the safe storage of a corporate collection.
Clé Chenue also has a network of partners covering everything from the conservation, restoration and cataloguing of collections to entire institutional memory projects. One of these companies is Expomus, a pioneer in Brazil.
If your company needs to preserve its history, our specialists can help you find the best solution. Contact us.
