You don't have to license your recent records
You choose the scope. A company can license an older period only, for example 2005 to 2015, and keep everything recent out. It can also choose particular systems (support tickets but not email, say) or particular teams.
Older records are often less commercially sensitive, because the prices, customers and plans in them have moved on. They can still give buyers years of real work history. Buyers usually look for at least two years of records, ideally five or more, so an older window can still fit what they ask for. What a narrower scope is worth depends on the buyer and the records, and we'll tell you what we think before anything is agreed.
Reasons a company might hold back
1. Company secrets.
Pricing, formulas, designs, strategy, bids and know-how sit in email and documents.
You decide what's in scope. Folders, mailboxes, projects and whole systems can be left out, and pricing, strategy and anything you consider sensitive can stay out. A ban on resale and re-identification is one of the terms we push for.
2. Customer confidentiality.
Contracts and NDAs with customers and suppliers.
Anything confidential to your customers always stays out. The readiness review includes a rights and ownership check, including client contracts.
3. Staff privacy and trust.
Upsetting employees or breaching their privacy.
HR, payroll, disciplinary, trade union and grievance material, health records and private messages always stay out. In everything else, names and contact details are replaced with consistent stand-ins inside your own systems, then tested to see whether anyone could reasonably be re-identified.
4. A competitor gaining an edge.
A rival could buy or see the data.
Every buyer is vetted before a data room opens, and you approve every buyer before they see a sample. You can say no to any buyer. Non-exclusive by default and a ban on resale are among the terms we push for.
5. Reputation.
Headlines about "selling data".
Buyers first see an unnamed profile of your records, and only buyers who've signed a confidentiality agreement see more. The licence covers a cleaned, de-identified copy, and your original records stay with you.
6. Legal risk.
UK GDPR, sector rules or a future complaint.
In our standard process, cleaning happens inside your own systems. A data protection impact assessment and a legitimate interests assessment are done with your lawyer before any processing starts, and you keep a written record of the cleaning. Your own solicitor can review the contracts before you sign.
7. Who owns the content.
Third-party documents, attachments or licensed material in the archive.
The readiness review checks what you own. Work your company doesn't own stays out.
8. AI models can't unlearn.
Once a model has trained on data, it can't be pulled back.
That's true, and it's why the decisions that matter most are made before anything leaves: what's in scope, what stays out and which buyers you approve. Deletion of the data at the end, with a signed certificate, is one of the terms we push for.
9. Effort and IT time.
No spare staff for a data project.
The free estimate takes about five minutes, with no files and no logins. The readiness review takes two to three weeks. Our fee is set out in our agreement, and only applies if a deal closes.
10. Underselling.
Not knowing what the records are worth.
We aim to put your unnamed profile in front of several vetted buyers together, so they compete on price and terms. You see every offer side by side, and you choose which to accept.
11. Board or investor approval.
Directors or investors need to agree.
We can walk your directors or investors through the process, the exclusions and the checks before anyone decides.
If something else is holding you back, tell us.