Making a decision to implement document management and document scanning services in your company does not have to be a difficult one.

Ask yourself these 12 questions to help determine if automating your business processes in paper intensive departments is right for your company.  Consider the way you currently manage, process and store documents in areas such as accounts payable, human resources, medical records and lab notebooks.

1. Are your documents and files always available when someone needs them?
2. Can you quickly share a document with others?
3. What would happen to your documents if a fire or other natural disaster struck your business?
4. Can you easily manage document revisions and track who has touched a document?
5. Do you want to reclaim up to 99% of office space used by filing cabinets and storage?
6. Do you have any security or compliance concerns with how your currently process your documents?
7. Do you want to eliminate the need for data entry or filing of  forms?
8. Are missed vendor discounts or timely invoice approvals ever a problem?
9. Do you want to provide better, faster and more reliable customer service?
10. Do you have any security or regulatory concerns related to sensitive information contained in your HR files?
11. Do you have immediate access to all associated patient data through your EMR system?
12. Do you have access to your research lab's complete record of research protocols and results necessary for meeting government regulatory compliance guidelines?

If you think a document scanning and document management solution is right for you, learn more about Digiscribe's department and industry specific solutions.

AIIM President John Mancini’s, eBook, “8 Things You Need To Know About Getting Rid of Paper,” is a also a good resource. I was honored to appear as a guest blogger in this eBook.

How safe is your business from disasters - a fierce storm, a flood, or even an earthquake?

In truth, the probability of being effected by a major catastrophe is relatively low. But even less spectacular disasters can wreak havoc on your businesses. A fire in your building, a blackout in the midst of the hot summer, a crane crashing through your offices can all stop your business dead in its tracks.

Unfortunately, research shows that over 60% of companies confronted by a major disaster close within two years.

A cloud-based document management system that provides secure and redundant storage of your electronic documents can help protect you from catastrophic losses if your office is damaged or inaccessible. A digital imaging and document management system provides disaster recovery, business continuity and peace of mind-knowing that you can:

• Secure and protect irreplaceable documents in a fully- redundant cloud based document management system
• Ensure business continuity during an unexpected event
• Access business-critical documents 24X7 from any computer allowing your business to operate from anywhere
• Minimize downtime and disruption to your customers
• Meet regulatory compliance requirements for document security.

You may be thinking you have a disaster recovery plan if all of your data is backed up and off site. That's great -- you can reload them onto your computer.  But what about all the paper based accounting files, HR records, contracts, proof-of-delivery papers, and other business critical documents that might be destroyed in the event of an unforeseen disaster?  Ask yourself one simple question: "If a disaster hit in my area, how long would it take to get my business up and running again?"

Document scanning and indexing of your business critical documents will help keep you in business even if your office is inaccessible or destroyed.  

Look for a document management specialist who provides document scanning services and cloud-based solutions to help keep your business running in good weather or bad.

This reminds me, smallbiztehcnology.com has 5 disaster recovery tips for small businesses that go beyond the IT aspect. Read more about it in their blog post here.

In recognition of Earth Day 2012 on April 22, Digiscribe would like to share with you ways to Go Green when it comes to content and document management. But first…we’ve compiled a list of our Top 5 interesting facts about paper: 

1. 1 file cabinet = 3.7 pine trees standing 75-feet tall
   
   
2. Each year in the US, 85.5 million tons of paper are used: 22% is recycled and 70% of the remainder could be recycled for an additional 46 million tons that would save 782 million trees
   
   
3. Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year, enough to build a 12 foot-high wall of paper from New York to California
   
   
4. Every ton of paper that is recovered saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
   
   
5. The first paper merchant in America was Benjamin Franklin, who helped to start 18 paper mills in Virginia and surrounding areas

 

Becoming a greener company overnight is a daunting task, but taking small steps is a sure way to get there. Take a look at how your company manages, copies, stores, and distributes paper documents. Maybe there is an opportunity to eliminate paper in your most crucial business processes, such as AP and HR with document scanning services and document management software. You will find that going paperless will help you save more than one type of green.

Learn more about our Green Office Solutions here

A recent Industry Watch paper from AIIM, the global community of informational professionals, addresses whether the paper free office is a dream or reality. While there is movement towards becoming paper free, I think it is more appropriate to say businesses, medical offices and non-profit organizations are becoming “paper light”.

Follows are some key findings from the study that support the cost and efficiency benefits of going paperless with document scanning services and document management solutions.

• Improved sharability and searchability is the biggest reason why companies scan their documents and capture information electronically, followed by improvements in productivity and reduced storage space.  Quickly and easily locating a business critical document and seamlessly sharing it across your organization strengthens your competitive advantage and improves efficiency.
  
  
• Electronic-only filing would halve the storage space needed for paper in 5 years. The average proportion of office space taken up by paper is now 15.3%, and it would drop to 7.4% with an all-electronic filing policy, a saving of nearly 8% in overall office costs. Considering real estate costs in New York and other major cities, that would be a substantial amount of cost savings.
  
  
• On average, respondents using scanning and capture consider that it improves the speed of response to customers, suppliers, citizens or staff by 6-times or more. 70% estimate an improvement of at least 3-times, and nearly a third (29%) see an improvement of 10-times or more.
  
  
• 42% of users have achieved a payback period of 12 months or less from their scanning and capture investments. 57% are posting a payback of 18-months or less.
  
  
• Overall there is less paper floating around the office – especially in the biggest organizations, but not across all size companies: “While the consumption of paper and the number of photocopies is decreasing in 35% of organizations, it is increasing in 32% of organizations.”   

Is your organization paperless, paper light or paper heavy?  Have you thought about transitioning your paper heavy departments, such as accounts payable and human resources, to paper light?  

To learn more about how to go paperless, contact an experienced document management service provider to help you eliminate the paper in your critical business processes. To learn more about the realities of a paper free office, download the full AIIM Industry Watch report here.


Digiscribe is proud to be an AIIM Advisory Trade Member