These articles from Computerworld confirm that the paperless office is still a long way from happening. No matter how sophisticated your filing system, use The Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System to keep your office organized and have the ability to find anything in seconds!
Paper prevails over electronic documents
by Mitch Betts
March 9, 2010 — Computerworld
Office employees are loath to give up the vast amount of paper stored in their filing cabinets, much to the chagrin of companies that sell scanners and electronic document management systems.
A recent survey by AIIM, an industry association representing vendors of such products, found that 62% of important documents are still archived in paper form. Even when documents are sent off to be scanned for archiving, 25% are photocopied beforehand “just in case,” the survey found.
“We are at last in a situation where *electronic archiving of records* (see excerpt below) is efficient, effective and can save huge amounts of space, and yet most office staff seem to be hanging on to paper in the mistaken view that there is some legal reason to do so,” said AIIM President John Mancini, in a statement.
“Despite the fact that the legal admissibility of scanned paper documents has been established for nearly 20 years and is nailed down in legislation and standards around the world, there is still this suspicion among users that they may need to produce the original paper copy at some stage,” Mancini said.
The survey also found that many documents are “born digital,” then printed out to be signed and later scanned into document systems.
*Paper cuts: Renewed efforts in the move toward the paperless office*
by Robert L. Mitchell
May 29, 2006 – Computerworld
Paper has been around in one form or another for 5,000 years. Paper money has been the preferred medium of exchange for business transactions for about 1,000 years. For the past 30 years, organizations have been trying — with limited success — to eliminate paper from business processes.
Businesses have made strides in reducing paper flows…but in some areas, however, the use of paper is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Many people still have a cultural preference for paper-based output. For example, Sonora Quest Laboratories in Tempe, Ariz., is automating its medical test lab processes, but at the end of the day, health care providers still want a printout.
“A lot of doctors still want a hard copy. [They] like to show it to the patient,” says CIO Bob Dowd.
People like to have paper copies of documents that represent the final outputs of transactions, says Richard Harper, senior researcher, socio-digital systems at Microsoft Research. “Paper can act as the physical embodiment of a transaction,” such as an insurance policy, he explains.
Even that could eventually change. More than 40% of the workforce was born after 1975 and has always used computers, says Dunn. “They’ve learned to absorb and retain information from screen displays … and they look at paper as redundant,” she says.
Compliance by Hard Copy
Other documents, such as contracts, must be retained on paper for legal or regulatory compliance reasons. “As much as we’ve gone electronic in our core business, we still have contracts, trust agreements, etc., that are required to establish a relationship with the bank,” says Thum. Such documents are scanned, but electronic versions are complementary.
“I would be surprised to see actual, legally binding documents maintained in purely electronic form,” says Ernie Harris, product manager at Raymond James Financial Inc. in St. Petersburg, Fla. The financial services firm uses imaging technology for inbound documents and faxes, but the desire to eliminate paper-based transactions with customers is tempered by regulatory requirements and a cultural preference for signed forms. The company processes hundreds of thousands of paper-based requests to open, update or change customers’ accounts each month.
That paper adds up quickly. A new client who is retired typically opens at least six accounts and signs 20 to 30 pieces of paper, says Harris. Currently, 50% of the company’s transaction requests come in by mail or fax.
Raymond James aims to address that by creating dynamic documents that consist of a common form and modules that can be integrated based on a customer’s needs. “You only have to sign one contract. Now we’re talking about signing one, two or maybe three pieces of paper [instead of 30],” Harris says.
Even though many businesses are storing documents digitally, many originals must still be stored for compliance or legal reasons.
Will there always be paper in your office? Do you think we will ever get to a ‘paperless office environment?’ Comment and let us know your thoughts on paperless office or not.
Read Paper prevails over electronic documents by Mitch Betts full article here.
Read Paper cuts: Renewed efforts in the move toward the paperless office by Robert L. Mitchell full article here.
Let’s face it, everyone would like to have less paper in their lives and many people are trying really hard to limit paper. If you are trying to greatly reduce the paper in your business and personal life, we think that is a great idea. However, if you are like most people, you will find that you can only take going paperless so far and you will still end up with quite a bit of paper – for this you should use The Paper Tiger software.
As we mentioned in a previous newsletter, with paper you only have 5 choices to deal with paper: TOSS IT in the trash (toss as much as you can), STACK IT (all that stuff on your desk), FILE IT alphabetically (the old fashioned way using abc’s and the file cabinet), SCAN IT (very tedious and time consuming) or INDEX IT (use The Paper Tiger software to index your paper files).
However, one of the best ways to get yourself better organized is to eliminate as much paper as you can upfront (i.e. don’t get it in the first place). If you want to get rid of as much paper as possible, here are a few ideas to consider:
Emailing - if at all possible, scan your paper documents into a computer and email them to your recipient rather than using a fax machine. If you do this, you are keeping a copy for yourself and reducing the paper on the other side. Your recipients will thank you for doing this!
Postal Mail - use an online service such as DMAchoice to take your name off direct marketing mailing lists. It is also not a bad idea to remove your name from telemarketing call lists at the same time.
Catalogs - use an online service such as Mailstopper to take your name off catalog marketing mailing lists.
Pay Online - pay bills and receive statements online. This eliminates quite a bit of paper. However, make sure you have a good electronic copy of the statements on your computer, in case your bank or other vendor decides to remove old statements. You can usually download a copy of all statements in .pdf format.
Digital Lists - reach for your iPhone, iPod Touch, Netbook or other such digital device before using paper to write down notes. There is great software available to help you keep organized and stay on top of your lists (free one at gmail tasks – Google). There is even a system available where you can call in and the system convert your voice to text called Jott.
PDFs - not everything needs to be printed to paper. You can save trees and laser toner/ink by simply printing documents to .pdf format and saving them on your computer. The bigger question is do you really need to save the document at all?
Scanning - scanning allows you to convert paper files into digital format. This can work out quite well for you and can make you feel “really organized”. There are many good choices in the market including The Neat Company. However, realize the pitfalls – scanning can consume quite a bit of time, some documents do not lend themselves to scanning and computers can and do break, so be sure and have a “bulletproof” local and off-site backup system or you could lose everything with a computer malfunction or a virus/database corruption error. You could even use The Paper Tiger to organize the physical documents that have been scanned, if you are worried about tossing the paper and later having a total loss situation due to a computer malfunction.
Paper - believe it or not, even if you did everything above, you would still have paper and lots of it! This is especially true if you are running a business. This is where we hope you will use The Paper Tiger to better manage the information. The Paper Tiger software is the easiest way to manage the paper in your business and personal life. At its core, it is a powerful indexing system that allows you to use the computer to Find Anything in Your Office in 5 Seconds or Less…Guaranteed! It is simple to learn and it really works! Take a 10 day FREE TRIAL!.
