On January 28, 2009 at 14:55, Terrmul said...
Yes OK, times change. That doesn't moot all the other
points though.
Our company actually has a plan if we were to go out of
business that includes contacting other local CI's to
transfer ownership of clients files, info and service
history. As a new source of revenue for thin times this
is a valuable connection to another company and consequently
one they may be willing to pay for, a win-win for them,
us and the client.
There is a lot of precedent on this one, and sorry to rain on your parade, but if you declare bankruptcy you are no longer in control of who gets what, including customer lists, documentation, etc. It becomes an asset that is sold to the highest bidder. In the case of proprietary control code it typically only has value to that specific customer and they can purchase it relatively cheap, but customer lists, databases, etc. will be auctioned likely to you competitors and whomever is willing to pay the most. It is what it is.
If you just decided to stop operating at some point then you could "sell" your company to a company of your choice and be in control of the process. Most of the time, though, and in context of the current climate, the type of "going out of business" being looked at here typically involves a bankruptcy.
