Case P&V Insurance: “We Were Immediately on the Same Wavelength”

Since May 2019, insurer P&V has relied on Youston for archive storage of both closed ‘passive’ and ‘active’ files, which are scanned and made digitally available upon request. In the meantime, Youston has transferred approximately 23 kilometers of archives from P&V’s central archive in Vilvoorde, and the assignment is gradually expanding to include archives stored in other P&V departments.

“It was a very good decision for us to outsource archive storage to Youston. There’s always some uncertainty about how things will turn out, but we have had only positive experiences. Operationally, Youston was excellent in their proposal, and they still are every single day,” says Edwig Van Den Borre, team leader of facility management for Brussels and Antwerp at P&V

“The connection was immediate. We consulted five parties, but with Youston, I immediately felt that we were on the same wavelength—in communication, in approach… For P&V, I wanted availability and accessibility. It’s unacceptable to wait a week for an email response regarding a specific file or to hear an automated message when calling. That file needs to be available within an hour. The service level at Youston certainly meets expectations, including in terms of privacy, monitoring retention periods, and file destruction.”

The price-quality ratio and Youston’s local presence also played an important role, particularly their compliance with the requirements of the FSMA—the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority.

Did sustainability and social responsibility play a role in the decision? “That is indeed becoming increasingly important. One of Youston’s competitors was a Spanish company, which is problematic when you need to move archives or request documents. Moreover, Youston keeps us informed about the steps they are taking regarding sustainability. This aligns perfectly with our company culture, where sustainability has long been a core value.”

P&V is a cooperative founded in 1907 by the Belgian Workers’ Party. ‘Prévoyance and Voorzorg’ is currently the seventh-largest insurance company in Belgium. Since the 1930s, the company has allocated part of its profits to social initiatives.