Can We Sell It? A records sorter for business owners
Sort what the buyer asked for into what's yours, what's a customer's, and what can't leave. About an hour, before anyone connects anything.
Fill it in withYour controller and your IT person.
Then take it toYour attorney, and your export compliance person if you do defense work. They decide. This gets them the facts fast.
List your systems
Tick every system the buyer asked for, plus old systems and archived drives.
For each one, noteHow many years of history. Customer files in it? Defense or export work in it? Employee info in it?
Sort each kind of record
Red: keep out
- Files customers sent youThe customer's, for the job only.
- Customer contracts and ordersTheir terms, prices and files.
- ITAR, export-controlled or CUIShowing it to a foreign person is an export.
- HR, payroll, medical, unionPrivacy laws and contracts apply.
- Fingerprint or face timeclock dataSome states ban selling it.
- Email with your lawyerSelling it can waive privilege.
Yellow: only with a written yes
- Work made for one customerSome big customers claim it. Check the contract.
- Quotes and cost historyYours, but full of customer part numbers.
- Email and chatOnly named mailboxes and folders, after checking.
Green: yours to consider
- Your own products and methodsYours. Decide how much know-how to share.
- Internal process recordsUsually yours.
- Manuals and proceduresUsually yours.
Check your top 10 customers' terms
Open each contract or purchase terms and search for these words:
- AI
- artificial intelligence
- train
- data mining
- foreground
- work made for hire
- only
Bans AI training or data mining?That customer's records go Red.
"Use only for this order"?That customer's records go Red.
Claims what you make for them?That work goes Red too.
A written yes from the customer can change any of these. Asking is a relationship call, since you'd be telling them you want to sell their files.
Send the buyer a scope, not data
Leave things out by customer, mailbox and folder, not by system. The same files often sit in email.
Proposed scope, for discussion. Subject to a final written agreement and our attorney's review.
Included: [systems], [record types], from [year] to [year].
Left out: everything relating to [customers]. All ITAR, export-controlled and CUI work. HR, payroll, medical and union records. Timeclock data. Email with our attorneys. These mailboxes and folders: [list].
How it's collected: our IT provider prepares the export. No buyer login or tool connected to our systems.
Please re-price on this scope.
Expect the number to move. Price the trade-off. Don't put customers' files back in to get it.