Going paperless can seem like a daunting task. And in fact if you're goal is to be 100% paperless it is a daunting task! But you can go partly paperless or even mostly paperless without investing in complex document management systems and re-engineering all of your business processes.
The first thing to consider is what it means to "go paperless".
1) The 100% Paper-Free Work-flow
This approach involves taking everything that your business currently does and re-implementing it to be managed in a software application. It not only digitizes your documents but also implements the business processes that involve the documents. For instance if you have a business rule that says that incoming invoices must be signed off by the original purchaser before being passed to Accounts-Payable then this would be codified in the system and the digitized invoice would be routed to the correct person for approval before being sent to AP for payment. These implementations are usually built upon a sophisticated document management system. All of the work-flows and document types for a particular business are defined in the system. Workers can then perform their business tasks such as authorizing purchases or approving payment of invoices on a computer screen. This can be very effective in an environment where there are complicated business processes. The document management system will track where in the process a document is and where it must go next.
These kinds of systems can be expensive. Implementation costs include software and hardware costs, consulting and customization and end-user training.
1) The 100% Paper-Free Work-flow
This approach involves taking everything that your business currently does and re-implementing it to be managed in a software application. It not only digitizes your documents but also implements the business processes that involve the documents. For instance if you have a business rule that says that incoming invoices must be signed off by the original purchaser before being passed to Accounts-Payable then this would be codified in the system and the digitized invoice would be routed to the correct person for approval before being sent to AP for payment. These implementations are usually built upon a sophisticated document management system. All of the work-flows and document types for a particular business are defined in the system. Workers can then perform their business tasks such as authorizing purchases or approving payment of invoices on a computer screen. This can be very effective in an environment where there are complicated business processes. The document management system will track where in the process a document is and where it must go next.
These kinds of systems can be expensive. Implementation costs include software and hardware costs, consulting and customization and end-user training.
2) File Store and Retrieve
At its simplest "Going Paperless" can simply mean storing and viewing documents and in an electronic form. This is really not that difficult to do and in itself can yield big savings and operational efficiency gains. Documents can be digitized by scanning paper documents that you receive or by "printing" directly to PDF format rather than to paper. Documents can be stored on a server hard-drive and are accessible to everyone in the office for viewing. It could be as simple as creating a folder on the drive to hold the documents scanned from each folder in your filing cabinets. If this is combined with optical character recognition (OCR) then full-text searches can be used to find any document by searching on any of the text in the document. This kind of system is not suitable for environments that have complex work-flows but it can be applied very effectively in small businesses or as a departmental solution in a large organization. This approach won't automate all of your business work-flows but it will allow you to save a lot of time filing and finding documents and allow you to eliminate a lot of the need to print-to-paper.Takeaway
If your business is hampered by a growing need to store and manage documents, consider starting out by moving to a solution whereby you "have less paper" rather than a solution that is 100% paperless. Costs rise very steeply as you move to a completely paperless solution while a lot of cost savings can be realized simply by storing and viewing your documents digitally. For a small business or department this might be the right balance between costs and savings. Even if you do progress to a more sophisticated solution you may be able to avoid the shock and trauma of going from 100% paper to 100% paperless in one step.
1 comment:
What do I win? Comment No. 1! Tim, I do a lot of work for a major manufacturer of scanners, writing ads, brochures, presentations, Flash presentations, etc... and I've gotta say, for the small biz market, your Web site and product(s) are right on target. Your site organization and copy is excellent.
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